Agree with the post. Working on https://spectagon.md which aims to improve the workflow around reviewing docs in the repo.
Reviewing docs in Github isn't great - as the post mentions, Google Docs or similar is typically where review happens. Spectagon aims to change that so that you can submit PRs for docs and you get a great review experience as a layer on top of Github.
Love the concept of a working memory score for code.
> the number of distinct pieces of program state that a developer needs to keep in their head when analysing a function and the impact this has on the understandability and maintainability of code.
The same concept applies not just to writing code, but to any context that you need to load up in order to do your work. E.g. context when jumping into a meeting or when reviewing a new project spec.
In those cases, one of the key things is being able to offload what you don't need in your working memory right now to some other solution (usually notes). More on that here https://www.stashpad.com/blog/working-memory
> More importantly, the process of adding to and maintaining the knowledge base felt more burdensome than beneficial
I wonder if being able to recollect things later in an organized way may not be worth the effort for you.
Something I've found is that I really don't need a robust personal knowledge base. My goal is to do my work well (and taking notes to support this is definitely valuable). Building a personal knowledge base doesn't support this goal and has a more unclear value-prop, so it's a drag to keep up with.
Agree that jumping between tools at the expense of focusing on craft won't get you the results you want:
> If we're fixated on acquiring every new tool that comes our way, we risk missing out on developing our fundamental, timeless skills—the abilities that transcend technological trends and persist throughout time
But the tools we use can have a big impact on our behavior.
Each tool makes some behaviors easier and others more difficult. By choosing tooling that aligns with your goals, you make it much easier to achieve those goals.
I'm currently knee-deep in the notes space* so will give an example there. I regularly talk to people who have invested a lot of time in their notes / productivity tooling. Their systems "look" good. But more often than not, they're over-engineered and get in the way of their goals.
When they take a step back and switch to simpler tools that align with their desired behaviors, they find more sustainable productivity and more space to hone their craft.
*working on https://stashpad.com - would love to chat if you've had a similar experience.
> He describes studies that have found a substantial delay in the reaction time of people talking on their cell phone while driving --- or even just holding conversations with someone in the car while driving. A similar delay has not been found in these studies when the driver is doing more passive activities such as listening to the radio or an audio book; it is the need to focus on a conversation that limits the working memory's ability to effectively support driving at the same time.
When your mind is holding items in working memory, that means that it has less space to focus and execute effectively on the main task at hand.
Just writing things down gives some resolution of that task/thought so that we can fully show up for our main thing.
Working on a new notepad for jotting things down to free up working memory. The goal is to make it easy to capture things and add some organization when you want.
Yeah, switching between different modes in the same day (or same half day) can be super scattering.
I try to select 1-3 main objectives for the week and then chunk the work I need to do into things that require being in a more extraverted mode of talking with folks vs more introverted deep dives.
E.g. on the day I did this podcast recording, I did user conversations bc I was in talking to folks mode.
On other days, the focus will be more writing focused - user insights / roadmap priorities / code.
Bytebase (https://bytebase.io) is re-inventing the engineer's notepad. We're engineers from Twilio and Nextdoor and are backed by Techstars, top-preseed firms, and engineers from companies like Github, Slack, Stripe, and more.
We're hiring for founding software engineers in the US. Remote/Hybrid team with HQ in Durham, NC.
bytebase.io | Software engineer (Founding Team) | Remote (US) | Full time | Bytebase is the engineer's scratchpad. We're backed by engineers from Github, Twilio, Slack, Stripe, etc and by top pre-seed firms. Competitive salary and significant equity.
Very interesting - the idea that with paper you accept that much of what you write is tossable and that for the select things you want to keep around, you're willing to re-transcribe. Your writing is understood to be a snapshot in time, not something that's supposed to stay up-to-date over time. There's something liberating about that.
Wow very interesting! I don't know too much about the legal brief use case but it sounds pretty similar to researching a coding task.
> I imagine pressing 1, 2, 3, etc. to assign it to the corresponding bucket.
That's pretty much it. It's a compound command which allows you to do different things with the shortcut. E.g. 1g to go to 1. 1m to move notes to 1. 1q to create a new bucket in 1,
Re: Ability to create new buckets on the fly
- We have that! (keyboard shortcut for it)
> Some balancing mechanism for the buckets - a learning algo
Don't have that yet but could be pretty interesting.
Key thing is that your notes are reasonably organized without slowing you down.
We think of Bytebase as your "RAM" or working memory as you're doing your daily work (as opposed to your "Hard Drive").
In our user research, we've seen that over 90% of engineers use some super basic scratchpad (untitled text files, Apple Notes, etc) for their daily work. It's super messy and it seems to be overlooked because it's private.
I've had this experience a number of times. I start out energized and wanting to be super organized. I over-organize. Then 1 or 2 months later, I can't keep up. I stop using my organized system and fall back to some basic untitled text file.
With Bytebase we're trying to embrace this messiness and do things a little differently...
Would love to get your feedback on bytebase.io - our checklist features is specifically inspired by this article, with three states: empty, half-filled, filled. You just hit 'X' to iterate through the states. Checklist items can be infinitely nested.
Reviewing docs in Github isn't great - as the post mentions, Google Docs or similar is typically where review happens. Spectagon aims to change that so that you can submit PRs for docs and you get a great review experience as a layer on top of Github.