How to Organize Your Ideas While Designing Solutions

When it comes to creativity, everyone has the potential to be a genius.

The statement applies equally to software developers and architects. You don’t need a high IQ or lots of natural talent to design high-quality software solutions.

What you need is a willingness to learn and an insatiable desire to find better approaches to solve problems.

One of the biggest hurdles for software engineers in designing a solid architecture is learning how to organize their ideas. This can be especially difficult when you feel overwhelmed or under pressure.

In such scenarios, you need the right tool to make the entire process of solution design much easier and frictionless. That way, you can direct all your attention toward doing your best work.

That’s why I want to share with you xTiles — a powerful yet simple tool that helps me focus on generating ideas and achieving better outcomes without worrying about organizing.

Let’s see how xTiles has simplified my work. And how it can help you become much more organized and productive at your work.

How I use xTiles

I am a solution architect with 17 years of industry experience. My daily work includes building POCs, creating designs, developing patent ideas, and defining solutions for complex requirements, among many other responsibilities.

Most of these responsibilities demand a lot of research and analysis. I need to carefully study the problem, understand the requirements, and think of creative ways to solve it.

The process of brainstorming and designing solutions can be very chaotic. I often have 30–40 browser tabs open, each containing a different article, documentation, or design sketch. I also have several text files, Visio diagrams, and mind maps scattered across my hard drive.

Additionally, I always have a notebook and pen to write down quick thoughts, ideas, and points that I think can be helpful.

This can often turn into a nightmare, especially when I need to go back and review my work or share it with someone else.

xTiles helps me solve this problem with its excellent uncluttered UI. The app allows me to tile all my open windows and documents side-by-side in a single tab. This helps me see everything in one place without wasting time digging through different media.

Flexible UI & Support for multiple content types

The features that make xTiles so useful for me are its ease of use, flexible tiles, and intuitive controls. The app has a clean, uncluttered UI that makes it simple to understand and use.

There are just a few buttons and options so that you won’t get lost in a sea of UI elements.

xTiles also supports multiple content types. I can tile windows, documents, mind maps, images, and video content side-by-side. This is extremely helpful in finalizing a solution when I need to compare or contrast different pieces of information.

For example, I often refer to multiple documentation sources and design sketches when designing a database schema.

With xTiles, I can have all of them open in one tab and tile them side-by-side. This way, I can quickly look at all of them and find the necessary information without switching between tabs and losing context in the process.

Here is an example from one of my projects.

Bird’s eye view of all the details in one tab

Relevant information about each tool was collected into different tabs in xTiles. Next, the data was compared and put together in the ‘Draft — Compare’ tile. Finally, the information was filtered into the ‘Final Solution’ tab, which helped us decide.

You can see how I used tiles to capture information irrespective of their content types in a single tab.

Easy to collaborate

xTiles makes collaboration a breeze. I can quickly share my work with other team members by adding their emails to specific projects. They can then view my work and contribute directly, depending on the access I grant them.

Sample screenshot of collaboration feature on xTiles

You can use the sharing feature to add your clients as reviewers. You can also add any team members as contributors, irrespective of their working location. You, your reviewers, and other contributors can access the project from anywhere, as long as you have an internet connection.

Final Thoughts

xTiles helps me effortlessly turn my random thoughts and idea collection into a structured output. I no longer have to waste time searching for lost files, notebook pages, or trying to make sense of my chaotic browser tabs.

If you spend a lot of time organizing your ideas in your software development process, I encourage you to try xTiles. This powerful tool can help you focus on what truly matters.

With xTiles, you’ll have a simple and effective way to organize your thoughts while designing high-quality software solutions.

xTiles is also going to have its Product-Hunt debut shortly. Be sure to check out their product hunt page.

So don’t wait — try out xTiles today and start putting your best foot forward as a software engineer.

Here is a quick video showcasing the incredible features of xTiles. I am sure you will love the app once you start using it.

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