I went to school as an EE and learned in college to keep written, dated lab notes in a notebook without removable pages (to be more credible as evidence).
I did this for years in my earlier career... there's something really nice about using a pen and paper to write down ideas and sketches. I've always felt it was the "linearization" of moving your pen through making a series of marks, one at a time, that helps clarify the thinking process.
Then I actually did get tangled up in a lawsuit, by shareholders against the execs of a startup I worked for, and had all my journals subpoena'ed. It was a harsh reminder that lab notes aren't really your own private sticky notes; if they are ever going to be used as evidence, they are better thought of as a continuous performance of Engineering Best Practices.
I basically stopped writing paper notes then.
I've started journaling my coding again, but electronically (mostly using plain text notes in files, with Johnny Decimal to keep them organized). It's just so helpful during the design and early implementation phase, or when working through a tricky bug hunt. But I usually delete them when I'm done with them.
I’m curious why. Was there something in your notes that implicated you or was it more of a general “working under a microscope in public view feels stifling” or something else?
Btw, I witness, in an almost daily basis, the power of a shared classification system based on numerical IDs/prefixes.
My parents use a web app based on an old-school text user interface (the vendor translated the original Pascal code to a CGI-based web app). The multiple routines are identified by numbers, (kind of) following a certain organization logic. Routines can optionally be called directly by typing its ID instead of navigating menus.
The team's communication and work-flow naturally organize around this classification method. The vendor's support staff also use the same language. "You can find this in 938, that in 835, and then check the overall status in 104". Repetition + predictability provided by the underlying classification logic quickly imprints those IDs in users' memory.
yw, I think I originally came across it on HN :) It's not perfect, but it's pretty solid.
The one way my personal system diverges from the original is that I have a 3-digit prefix before the 2-digit category ID. 001 is my personal recordkeeping other than creative projects and has its own category tree. Then 002-499 are creative personal projects (non-work software and music). Software and music projects each have their own category tree template. 500-999 are work-related; right now, 500 is non-software-project info related to my current employer (interview notes, admin stuff, blog posts, other writing) and 501-599 are major software projects. I am guessing 600-699 would be my next employer, 700-799 the next, etc.
This is interesting, I'd love to hear a bit of elaboration if you find the time; why delete your notes? Why do we care if they're used in a lawsuit against our bosses, assuming we're not doing anything illegal?
I imagine I'm just being naive, because I've never worked in a small startup.
For me, having to produce my journals was a reminder that holding on to my notes means that I might need to give a deposition or testify about them. Engaging with the court system in any way is just not something I care to do if I can avoid it. So I re-examined the value proposition of keeping written notes.
If I was working in an environment where (for example) producing patentable inventions was part of the job, I would keep and retain solid lab notebooks in case they are needed to defend my employer's IP, and would write them every day with that purpose in mind. Likewise in a job where we have to follow ISO-style engineering processes in a regulated environment such as medical device software. That's not at all the same as keeping a journal of development for my own improvement... that's consciously creating an artifact so it can be produced on demand.
If I just keep my garbage notes in garbage files that I delete, I can use them while they are relevant and sweep up after, just as if they were post-it notes.
Thanks for response, makes a lot of sense! I can’t yet relate to the first reasons, but I definitely see the appeal of mentally marking working notes as “garbage”. I find that trying to make working notes an artifact always leads to me getting distracted
Even innocent trials and brainstorming can get you in to hot water. Some P.E.s in the Electrical Engineering field at my old company were known for keeping a good set of wikis, journal, and email lists. They had an internal sort of peer review system between our plants.
An unrelated lawsuit was filed against the company by the state. A set of speculative statements in an email chain made by one EE about hypothetical measurement issues was taken as proof of company "knowledge" about inaccurate reporting.
I did this for years in my earlier career... there's something really nice about using a pen and paper to write down ideas and sketches. I've always felt it was the "linearization" of moving your pen through making a series of marks, one at a time, that helps clarify the thinking process.
Then I actually did get tangled up in a lawsuit, by shareholders against the execs of a startup I worked for, and had all my journals subpoena'ed. It was a harsh reminder that lab notes aren't really your own private sticky notes; if they are ever going to be used as evidence, they are better thought of as a continuous performance of Engineering Best Practices.
I basically stopped writing paper notes then.
I've started journaling my coding again, but electronically (mostly using plain text notes in files, with Johnny Decimal to keep them organized). It's just so helpful during the design and early implementation phase, or when working through a tricky bug hunt. But I usually delete them when I'm done with them.