Over the past 4 years, I’ve written about 1820 pages on the 13 A5 notebooks shown in the picture above. This tool has become essential for my job, and in this article I’ll describe the simple process behind it, which I’ve found to deliver consistent results, reliably.

Write, Consolidate, Repeat

The process I’ve been using for several years is based on Option 3. of Solving Task Switching Through Documentation, and is broken down in three steps:

1. Write

• Material: A5 spiral notebook (it makes it easier to be written anywhere, because the pages can always be flipped around in a way that only the writing page is facing up, and the rest of the pages serving as a solid writing surface; plus the notebook’s rings are great for carrying your pen or pencil reliably), with clear pages (this allows for diagrams, phrases, texts, tidbits, collaborations to happen without any formal restriction). Have another backup notebook within reach, to replace the main one when it runs out.
• When: Make sure to always have your notebook and pen / pencil at your desk, meetings, conferences, 1:1s, and any environment where a collaboration is made, within reason.
• What: Write down your thoughts, key points that coworkers communicate, ideas, anything else you find relevant. These are your notes, so allow yourself to expand and experiment.

2. Consolidate

With several notes written, their consolidation can happen in three different time spans:

• Immediately:
  • The mere act of writing often helps the thought process, since it forces ethereal concepts to be materialized into paper. Expect that a good portion of the written notes to not be read ever again.
• Shortly after they are written:
  • Keeping track of conversations: has it ever happened to you that suddenly you completely lost track of the discussion, especially a complex / ambiguous one? Refer back to the jotted down key points to quickly recall and connect points. Soon after you will be back on track, and maybe with new insights.
  • Summarization of conversation segments, usually at the end of a meeting: leverage the written notes to summarize key takeaways and action points. There is nothing worse than spending 30 minutes in a discussion without material end results or follow ups.
• Some time after notes are written: I avoid this period to be longer than one day.
  • Transcribe key points into a structured medium, such as a document, article, or personal log (I use a simple text file where I log important events during the day; this text file has been consistently updated for 4 years, and is a personal historical treasure trove spanning several thousands of lines).

3. Repeat

Just like other processes, their value only becomes apparent after they have been used several times. Build a habit. It will then become immediately apparent whenever a notebook is not at hand, or when structured notes are not written down.