# Idea funnel An idea funnel is a place to capture things you *could* do without committing to them, and a process to decide, idea by idea, whether each one becomes real work or gets dropped. The reasoning, as used in the [[Obsidian Starter Kit]] action system: committing is expensive. A goal or a project is a promise to yourself, and every promise you don't keep makes your views noisier and your reviews heavier. Yet ideas arrive all the time, and losing them is a waste. Before the Obsidian Starter Kit had a dedicated idea type, my product ideas sat as goals with an "Idea" status, dozens of them, so half of the goals view was wishes. In the funnel, an idea moves from Captured to Exploring and then gets a decision: Promoted into a goal, plan, project, activity or task (with a link to what it became), or Dropped, with the reasoning kept in the note. Ideas carry only impact and effort, just enough to triage. The funnel keeps the rest of the system honest: goals and projects list commitments, the idea views list options. An idea is something you could *do*; a thought you could *develop* (a hypothesis, an insight) is a seed in the [[Obsidian Starter Kit - System - Dot System|Dot System]]. A funnel needs regular triage, at least once a quarter, so it doesn't turn into a graveyard. [[Shape Up]] takes the radical position on the same problem: it keeps no backlog at all, on the assumption that important ideas come back on their own. ## References - https://basecamp.com/shapeup/2.1-chapter-07 ## Related - [[Obsidian Starter Kit - Theory - The action system]] - [[Obsidian Starter Kit - Tutorial - Tracking ideas]] - [[Obsidian Starter Kit - Tutorial - Promoting an idea]] - [[Obsidian Starter Kit - System - Dot System]] - [[Areas of responsibility]] - [[Periodic reviews]] - [[Shape Up]] - [[Limit Work In Progress]] - [[Getting Things Done (GTD)]]