Writing & Documentation is a part of Working
3 Benefits of Documenting while you work!
I have been learning Laravel, a PHP framework, as I dive deeper into making a product with my team. I was fascinated by the amount of documentation I have had to read and synthesize over the last few days. Also, I had to keep active communication between myself and the team, and also to leave breadcrumbs for myself so that I can know where my mind was at during the work.
Then it hit me, this is something I have wanted to come and write passionately about.
Writing and keeping updated regular documentation is a part of work.
I think if I had started out in my life and career working for people who required reports and documentation, I would have developed this habit earlier. But that was not the case, and I had to pick it up later on in life and work.
I believe it to be the core of the working experience, and you get to benefit a great deal when you are writing extensively during the course of the work that needs to get done.
It might seem as though you are wasting time, but you are keeping track of your thoughts, actions, plans, and insights. Every new job opportunity, is either an opportunity to learn, or an opportunity to deploy your knowledge and skills.
Conscious and aware.
Writing keeps you conscious and aware of the contents of the work that you are doing. You are aware of the goals in the project, the steps you need to make, the roadmap to get the work done, the contents of the work, and how delivery could possibly look like when you are done. It helps you minimize distractions, and shallow work. When you know the key features that you need to build and how to approach that piece of work, you are better able to finish it in record time.
A store of knowledge.
When you write down, you create a store of your knowledge, that is sharable, explainable and expandable. This is important because you want to simplify your work and your life as much as possible, by having an idea of the route it takes to get work done. Also, other people can look at your thinking, and make corrections and suggestions, which eventually sharpen you more, and change totally how you work.
Clarity.
To gain clarity over your tasks, responsibility and impact on your time is probably one of the most important things for writing on a job. You only get to have 8 or so hours, more if you are self employed, to work on your business. When you get clarity for a road map and what needs to be executed, you will have peace of mind knowing you are on the right path.
How to keep this documentation.
I suggest you use digital tools. In fact, I swear by digital tools. If you keep a notebook by your side, take a bunch of pictures, and bring it into your digital tool later on. Capture your thoughts then.
You need to keep information on digital tools because they are
- Sharable
- Editable
- Referenceable / Searchable
- Fire proof
- Cheaper
Notion
I propose Notion, but for a long time since Uni, I used Evernote, and later on google docs. You could probably use one of those.
Next — Create a Writing workflow.
You can build a work template that allows you to start writing every time you get to work. On it, you can include,
- Goals,
- Team
- Tasks
- Research
- Screenshots
- New Information
- Results
- Impact
- Other Notes
With that short bullet journal, you can write down a few sentences about each thing while the work is going on, keeping in mind that you will come and do a proper review once the work is done.
This will force you to think about your work. Your involvement in it, and what you hope to achieve with this work.
If you are able to do this on every piece of work that you do, imagine the impact it will have on your career and experience. You will bring in the necessary skills needed for a job, you will make use of your knowledge and deploy it quickly in various areas, realizing results.
Is this something you do? What is a work flow that works for you? If you are a freelancer or a creative or a developer, do you religiously do this? What are some of your hangups?
Let me know your thoughts, as I am keen on expanding this conversation as I improve my work processes.
