Related to the pickle jar is my Queue of Inquiry. After I lost my real pickle jar, I used to keep both project ideas and questions in a journal named “ideabox” on my PC, with convenient shortcuts scattered on my desktop and quick-access toolbars. The big idea was that I’d be able to look back at it someday and see what general fields of inquiry I kept coming back to, and this would be a Good Thing.

I’m finding that WordPress is a good system to use to keep track of stuff I’m thinking, so I’m going to try to use it to track the Inquiry Queue. The ideas in the queue tend to migrate into the pickle jar, or blossom full-blown into projects.

• When hunting down good food, people follow the master chefs, not the owners. Can the same logic apply to technology leaders and teams? Perhaps headhunters and investors know how to find out who’s hot. The trick may be recognizing who the standouts are in their respective area: leadership, execution, and creating product. [10.09.2004]

• Is it possible to make turkey stuffing out of twinkies? There is precedent for sweet stuffing out of sweet potatoes and corn bread. [10.07.2004]

• How do banks make money, and what’s the most profitable? Am I getting screwed? [09.21.2004]

• Personality Type testing has a weakness in that it doesn’t establish any kind of context. I wonder what kind of work there has been in categorizing experience itself. Emmanuel Kant has 12 categories of experience, so this might be a good place to start. [10.03.2004]