Write It Down!

Published in

Nx Devtools

5 min readAug 24, 2017

This post is different from our normal posts. It isn’t about Angular or JavaScript. It is simply about writing things down.

The unexamined life is not worth living. But if we don’t write things down, how do we examine it?

This article is about how I keep a detailed log of my day-to-day life. And how it has helped me become not just a better software developer, but a better partner, and a better person.

Retrospectives

Retrospectives are important. That’s why software development teams get together once a week to see what works and what can be improved. We know small adjustments add up. So why don’t we apply the same approach in our day-to-day lives?

Writing Things Down

To be able to retrospect, or to be able to reflect on things, we need to remember them. And let’s be honest, we are not very good at it. At least, I’m not. That’s why I write everything down.

In the morning, right after breakfast, I go through my tasks, and decide on the three tasks I want to accomplish that day. I write them down. I then think of the three things I’m grateful for or looking forward to that day. I put them on paper as well. This is what it looks like.

Then I proceed with my day. I work. I go to the gym. I go out. Nothing unusual, except that I record absolutely everything in my notebook. For instance, I note the type of work I do, how I feel, how many interruptions I have. During certain weeks I take extra notes (e.g., how much coffee I have.) Later, already in bed, I close my day by writing down what went well and what could have gone better.

Use Software for Hour-to-Hour Planning and Paper for Keeping the Log

I use a paper notebook instead of an app for keeping my log. Why? First, it is more flexible: I can add color, diagrams, notes. I can do whatever I want with paper. Second, writing with a good pen in a notebook is a very satisfying experience — I derive joy out of it. So I’m a big fan of paper for keeping the log, but I don’t use it for planning. My hour-to-hour plans change too often, so a todo app (in my case, Trello) works better.

Value of Writing Things Down

Writing things down, the act itself, is extremely valuable. It makes me mindful of how the day is going: how productive I am, how many interruptions I have. Thinking of the three things to look forward to in the morning lifts up my mood and creates a sense of anticipation. Noting my wins and lessons in the evening creates a sense of accomplishment. So even if I didn’t do anything else with that notebook, I’d keep the log just for that. The most valuable thing, however, happens on Sunday, when I sit down to do a retrospective.

Personal Retrospectives

“Every night before going to sleep, we must ask ourselves: what weakness did I overcome today? What virtue did I acquire?” — Seneca

I have been doing personal weekly retrospectives for years, but keeping the log made this process so much more valuable. Whereas before I only had a list of finished tasks and a general feeling of how the week went, now I have an immense amount of written down notes:

42 things I enjoyed
Dozens of “lessons learned”
Dozens of things that went well
The number of tasks completed
The number of hours worked
How productive I felt

All combined, it is about two hundred notes.

Every Sunday I spend an hour going through these notes to see if anything interesting pops up. One week, for instance, I found that doing overtime doesn’t help me accomplish more — I just get tired. Next week I noticed that a 2PM run has an incredible effect on my productivity. Another week I noted that I only complete about two thirds of the goals set. That’s not good planning! I scaled down to make sure I can complete almost all of them.

At the end of that hour, I have written down the three things I want keep doing and the three things I want to try doing. Just six short notes, but what an effect they have!

Running Experiments

Collecting this data also allows me to run experiments and test hypotheses. For instance, for two weeks, I was recording the music I was listening to. The result was conclusive. I’m by far the most productive without any background music at all. Next goes solo piano jazz: I can still do some work listening to Bill Evans. Anything else just kills my productivity.

Personal Life

The examples in this article are about productivity and work, but more than half of my notes are not work related. They are about my relationships with my partner, my parents, and my friends. They are about my health, my social life, and my civic life. Everything that matters is there.

Summary

As programmers we understand the idea of trying to get better at our craft, but I don’t think we are deliberate enough about it. Moreover, we should also be intentional about becoming better partners, friends, and citizens. Writing down what works, what makes us feel good, and what makes us feel proud can be a great help for that.