From Brain Dump to Blog Post: Our Workflow Experiment of Publishing Imperfect Ideas

By Björn Heijligers & Jakob Possert

This image was created using an AI image creation program.”

Anyone passionate about ideas has faced the “now what?” dilemma. A nugget of insight strikes, you scribble it down, and… then the idea loses its luster, buried in notebooks or scattered digital files. There’s just too much friction between the raw idea and turning it into something shareable.

We — Björn, a data scientist, and Jakob, an entrepreneur — are determined to crack this code. We believe getting ideas out into the world shouldn’t be so laborious. So, we’re on a quest to build the ultimate “idea-to-publication” workflow: fast, intuitive, and accessible enough for anyone to use.

Interlude: The Power of Publishing the Imperfect

Why does publishing early-stage ideas work? Here’s what we’ve discovered (and a confession: We’re still figuring this out!):

• Clarity Through Exposure: Putting our ideas out into the world forces us to clarify it. As others engage with it, we’re challenged to explain and refine our thinking.
• Unexpected Connections: Publishing early opens our ideas to collaborators, experts, and potential audiences you didn’t even know existed. These connections can accelerate and transform our ideas.
• Iterative Progress: Instead of one massive launch, “publishing rough” fosters a cycle of creation, feedback, and improvement. The idea evolves organically, fueled by real-world input.
• Letting Go of Ownership: It sounds counterintuitive, but sharing an idea early helps us detach from it. This opens up space for the idea to find its best form — which may be different from what we had initially imagined.

Our Frankenstein Workflow (So Far)

Picture this: Jakob has a flash of insight during a walk. Minutes later, he’s recording himself on his smartwatch. Back home, the recording is automatically transcribed, ready for the next step.

This is where things get interesting — and slightly chaotic! We use a mix of AI tools and a sprinkle of our own Python code:

1. The Brain Dump: A Zoom chat (like the one we used to write this article!) becomes a raw transcript thanks to tools like Otter.ai.
2. The Guiding Questions: We distill our aim with basic prompts like, “Summarize the key points of this discussion.” or “Write a blog post about the potential of this workflow.”
3. The AI Magic: ChatGPT-4 or Gemini Advanced takes the transcript and prompts to generate a draft. It’s rough, but the core ideas are there.
4. Human Touch-Ups: This is where we roll up our sleeves! Editing, shaping the narrative, and infusing the piece with our own voices.

Prompts used

Prompt
let's try again with the text at the end of this message marked as #INPUT, this time making the process of cleaning the raw text, parsing the text and formulating 3 different draft versions more explicit.
#Step 1: Cleaning Prompt:
-Remove any metadata such as timestamps or speakers
-Keep all the words in their original composition, only make the following changes:
-Identify concepts and capitalize them - do not use all caps
-If a phrase or sentence does not make sense, put it into parentheses
-Improve the punctuation
-Remove fillers and redundant connectors such as: Like, actually, Kind of
#STEP2 Parsing Prompt
-How many ideas are in this text ?
-Do all idea’s relate to the same underlying problem?
-For each idea specify the underlying problem and for which audience this idea would be relevant.
#Step3 Formulation Prompt
-write 3 short draft blog posts based on the idea's that are, or could be hidden, in the input transcription. Make the underlying problem the ideas are trying to adress and the possibly intended audiences explicit. When unsure way so and provide 3 of your best guesses for every part you are unsure of.
-Use TURQUOISE (from spiral dynamics) methods of engaging the reader

For the documentation of our MVP implementation of this approach, read our next article

The Publication Pipeline: Audio to Medium Post

Why This is More Than Just a Workflow

Sure, we love efficiency. But this experiment goes deeper. It’s about democratizing the act of publishing:

• Ideas Aren’t Just for Writers: Long-form writing can be intimidating. Our workflow lets people share ideas in their way — through talking, audio notes, etc.
• Collaboration by Design: Our back-and-forth discussions fuel the AI prompts. It’s a messy human-machine co-creation.
• Embracing Imperfection: The AI-generated drafts are often awkward, even off-topic. But they spark surprising tangents and force us to clarify our thinking.

The Road Ahead: Where We Need Your Help

This workflow is far from polished. Here’s where it gets really exciting: we want you to help us refine it!

• Technical Wizards: Can you streamline the process with code, making it even easier for non-programmers?
• UX Gurus: How can we design a super-intuitive interface? Think drag-and-drop prompts, and seamless integrations with existing tools.
• Early Adopters: Are you game to try our workflow (warts and all) and share your honest feedback?

Join the Idea Revolution

We imagine a world where sharing your ideas is as simple as having a conversation. No more brilliant concepts lost to overthinking or technical hurdles.

Picture the possibilities:

• Accelerated Research: Scientists sharing early hypotheses for real-time feedback.
• Community-Driven Solutions: Social movements rapidly iterating on ideas.
• Empowered Individuals: Anyone can become a thought leader, regardless of writing skills.

We’re not there yet, but we’re getting closer with every awkward AI draft and every piece of feedback.

This is an invitation. Let’s build this future together! Follow our progress, share your thoughts, and let’s make the idea-publishing revolution a reality!