I was out walking my dog the other day, Quinn, and you know how it is—you sit at your desk, stare at the screen for hours, and then when you step away, suddenly, all the great ideas start flowing. So, I thought, there has to be a way for me to walk my dog and capture these ideas in an organized way without stopping everything to write them down.

I Googled around and found that Thomas Frank had already solved this problem. He put together a breakdown tutorial, which I followed. Here’s the link to the setup I’m using: Thomas Frank’s guide.

It took me a bit longer to set up than what his website suggested, but here’s how it works: I press record on an app, talk through my ideas, and brain dump whatever comes to mind. When I press stop, the recording uploads to Dropbox, which then transcribes the audio and sends it to Notion. From there, I can copy and paste my Notion transcript into ChatGPT to organize it into an outline, action items, or any other format I need.

This has been a game-changer, especially for working with my team and creating JIRA tickets.

How I Use It for Development Work

There are different ways I apply this workflow. Sometimes, I’m walking through a new idea, sketching in Balsamiq, or reviewing a Figma design from my designer. When I need to explain the functionality to a developer, instead of struggling to write everything down in a perfectly structured way, I just talk through it.

For example, if I have a Figma design mapped out, I’ll go screen by screen, describing user expectations and interactions:

• What happens when a user lands on this screen?
• What should the buttons do?
• What changes dynamically based on user inputs?
• How should notifications and real-time updates work?

Figma is static, so talking through each interactive element ensures nothing gets overlooked. I often find gaps in my design while explaining things aloud.

Turning Recordings into Functional Docs and JIRA Tickets

Once my recording is transcribed into Notion, I can use ChatGPT to generate:

• Functional documentation
• User instructions
• JIRA tickets

For testing, this workflow is invaluable. When I’m QA’ing and find bugs, instead of stopping my flow to write detailed reports, I:

1. Take a screenshot of the bug.
2. Record a quick note explaining the issue.
3. Continue testing without interruption.

Later, I feed the transcript into ChatGPT and ask it to:

• Summarize all the bugs I found.
• Generate JIRA tickets with clear descriptions and expected behavior.

For example, if I notice a login bug where emails are case-sensitive when they shouldn’t be, I’d say:

“Bug: Email addresses are case-sensitive. Expected behavior: The system should recognize ‘Sam@gmail.com’ and ‘sam@gmail.com’ as the same email.”

ChatGPT then structures this into a properly formatted JIRA ticket. This saves me hours of manual work.

Final Thoughts

This setup doesn’t replace my work—it enhances it. I’m still the one identifying issues, designing features, and managing tasks, but now I have an AI-powered assistant keeping everything organized in the background.

Between Record App, Dropbox, ChatGPT, and Notion, I’ve unlocked a workflow that saves hours of time. If you’re looking for a more efficient way to capture ideas and manage development tasks, check out Thomas Frank’s guide. Hopefully, it helps you as much as it’s helped me!