Camilla over at Winterflower argues that software engineers should keep an engineering notebook. That’s advice that everybody knows they should follow but that too many of us don’t. We’re busy and we think, “I’ll remember what I just did, I don’t need to write it down.” Of course, a little later we don’t remember and have to go through the pain of figuring things out all over again.
I keep a journal in which I record everything I do and discover but I’ve only been doing this for about 3 years. I really wish I’d started earlier. A good way of making it easier to get started and keep with it is to have a good system for recording things.
Of course, as an Emacs and Org mode user that means I have a built-in infrastructure for such things. One of the things that Emacs and Org mode provide is an easy way of retrieving information from your notebook. Org mode tags provide an excellent way of finding things. For example months ago I revised the way I compile Emacs (which can be a bit finicky on macOS), put it in my journal, and added the tags emacs and compiling. When I want to compile Emacs, I merely type Ctrl+c a m emacs:compiling to find all my journal entries with those tags. Even better, I have the commands in a code block so I can run them automatically by just typing Ctrl+c Ctrl+c in the block. That’s a real win over trying to figure out everything each time I compile a new Emacs.
There’s lots of examples like this, of course, and the more you put into your notebook, the more you can get out and the easier it will make things for you. Of you aren’t already keeping an engineering notebook, you should start. Or at least make a New Years resolution to start. I promise you, you’ll be glad you did.
Update : comiling → compiling