I get frustrated when discussions about problems don't go anywhere. When problems are complex and people have different understandings, it gets really hard to effectively communicate about it all.
In order to reduce misunderstandings, I feel that it would be immensely helpful if
- discussion is contextualized within a visual breakdown of the problem,
- we're explicit about intuitions, reasoning, unknowns, and
- we can acknowledge nuanced details without stepping away from our main points.
I think doing these things in a manner that's organized, navigable, and maintainable is something that's more achievable with a specialized tool. I'm not aware of such a tool[1], so I started building Ameliorate.
I feel strongly that a tool like this, if done well, could really help with solving problems generally. I've been working on it full-time for a year and a half now, and I plan on spending at least the next year[2] continuing full-time.
There's a lot of refining to do, and I have a million ideas[3] for ways to improve the tool, but now that it's got a solid base of features, I'm focusing more on finding opportunities to share about the tool and help others benefit from using it for their own situations (and therefore to get more feedback for refining it further).
I'd love to hear any suggestions, questions, criticism, or feedback you have :)
Repo: https://github.com/amelioro/ameliorate
[1] Tools for argument (e.g. https://www.kialo.com/) handle reasoning very well, but don't contextualize them within the breakdown of a problem. Ibis diagram tools (e.g. https://debatemap.app/) do the same, and nicely allow contextualizing arguments to a problem (in the form of a question or position), but don't break down the problem. Free-form diagram tools (e.g. https://miro.com/) allow you to visualize the breakdown of a problem, but can't help much with organizing/navigating all the details because kinds of information aren't distinguished.
[2] If it takes off, I might look for ways to get funding, but I don't want to go any routes that impede accessibility or UX (maybe offering private hosting, consulting, workshops?)