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This week, I've been reminded of how important it is for me to have an external brain.
I'm working in an environment that is extremely challenging to my memory. The software I'm working on is part of a huge ecosystem with a lot of moving parts. There are a lot of other services, teams, tools, and guidelines to keep in mind every day!
On an ordinary workday, I'm probably actively working on 2 or 3 different codebases, looking into 5 more, and have a handful of async conversations in different contexts.
As I was working on one of those codebases this week, I had to find out how to get the account ID of a user. The user accounts are shared across services and I was sure I had used an account ID before.
It was one of these moments where I was sure I've done it before, but for the life of me, I could not remember when and where.
I was prepared to set out on a frustrating research mission to find the information I needed when I remembered my external brain: a wiki page where I jot down pieces of information that I might need again at some point. And voila, Tom from the past had noted down how to get that account id, saving Tom in the present half an hour of research.
Continuously taking lightly structured notes for ourselves is one of these activities that we question while doing it, but are grateful to have done it when we need it. The effort always pays out.
If you don't have an external brain (or an "exocortex", as it's called in "Pragmatic Thinking and Learning"), start to create one now! Future you will be thankful!
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