CompareNotebooks and memory
A field notebook vs PropelMapper
An advisor’s notebook and memory are often the best record of a farm, and both leave when the advisor does; PropelMapper keeps that record on the field’s own page instead.
- Today
- Notes and history in one person’s pocket and head
- With PropelMapper
- Each field’s history on its own page, for the team
Check the handoff
What a field notebook loses when an advisor leaves
A notebook works for its owner. It stops working the day someone else needs it.
- Shorthand“Wet spot again, NE.” Clear to the person who wrote it. To a colleague it is a puzzle: which field, which year, how wet.The handoff
- MemoryWhich hybrid went in, what the tenant said about the tile line, why the east end gets sprayed late. Most of it was never written down.Every season
- One copyThe notebook sits in one truck. If it is lost, or its owner retires or moves on, years of observations go with it.For good
The visitHow you do it today
What a field notebook does well
A pocket notebook is quick and it never runs flat. You can sketch a drainage problem with an arrow faster than you can open any app, and paper does not care whether there is a signal at the back of the farm.
Plenty of good advisors keep one for life. The weakness is not the paper. It is that the record belongs to one person, and the farm needs it to outlast them.
- FastA word and an arrow, and you are walking again.
- No battery, no signalWorks in a dead zone and in the rain, if you keep it dry.
- SketchesDraw the problem. Photograph the page if you want it on the visit.
Customer experience
“I would grab this big old box that holds all my files. I tried to do 10 to 12 farm visits in a day. I would bring all my files with me, and then I'd write my notes on the files. Now I just go out to the field. I pull up the app on my phone.”
Shea S.Farm Manager, Peoples Company What changes
Keeping field history on each field page
In PropelMapper every visit is filed under its place. Open a field and you see its boundary, its area, how many days since someone last walked it and how many visits it has had this year. From there you can open each visit and its recordings, photos, readings and signed report.
When a colleague takes over the account, or you come back to a farm after a year away, that page is where the history is. Capture works with no signal, like paper; it uploads when you are back in range.
Example account: Prairie Agronomy
Side by side
A notebook and memory next to a field record
| Part of the job | A notebook and memory | With PropelMapper |
|---|---|---|
| Who can read it | The person who wrote it | Anyone on the team with access |
| What it is filed under | A page number, maybe a date | The farm and field, with GPS on each capture |
| Last season on this field | Find the right notebook | Open the field |
| What the grower said | Remembered, or not | In the recording, word for word |
| Photos | In a camera roll with everything else | On the visit, under the field |
| Promises made at the truck | A star in the margin | A task with a person and a due date |
| When the advisor leaves | The notebook leaves too | The history stays with the team |
| No signal | Works | Works; uploads when back in range |
Questions
Field notebook questions
Can I keep my notebook?
Yes. Keep sketching on paper, and photograph a page or a sketch to attach it to the visit when it matters.
What happens to my visits if I leave the team?
They stay with the team’s places, where your colleagues can find them. That is the point of keeping the record on the field.
I am not a phone person. Is this hard?
If you can leave a voicemail, you can record a visit. Recording is one large button, and the rest is talking about what you see.
Does it work where my notebook works?
Yes. Voice, photos and GPS are saved on the phone without a signal. Transcription and the report draft wait until you are back in range.
End of the walk
Field history the whole team can open
Pick a farm you know better than anyone. Record your next visit there and see what a colleague would find on its page.