Google Keep is the best notes tool I have used. It’s very straightforward to use, and has a few bells and whistles that I find very helpful – automatically syncs between different devices, so you can maintain one set of items between your computer and your phone, it has solid organization capabilities, can handle images or voice notes, and also allows you to actively collaborate on items with people.
It’s not quite enterprise-level collaboration software, but it has enough of the components to make it a truly effective tool for staying organized, both individually and as a team. In addition to the app and webpage, there is also a browser plug-in that lets you save things quickly to your Keep for later use/review.
Many people will speak to the effectiveness and value of using checklists and writing down your thoughts and reflections to be able to better explore and understand them. Keep provides both artistic space and increased efficiency.
Some ways checklists are helpful: they help us stay organized both as individuals or teams, and can help us follow a desired process, they can generate feelings of accomplishment and help reinforce desired habits, they can force us set more tangible focuses for our goals, and they can help us set more goals than we otherwise would. They not only help us be more efficient with the time we use, but they can also help us achieve more with ourselves than we otherwise may, by strengthening certain task-reward based neural pathways. It is important to balance this with an understanding that the sake of work is not to check boxes, but generally speaking it is good to cultivate the habit of feeling rewarded, releasing dopamine, in combination with accomplishing things.
As for artistic space – probably best to be viewed as essential for healthy/optimal human development, whatever the medium – the ability to create is one of our greatest gifts.