It's low-tech, but I've been using notebooks (not too thick, stapled usually). I write a header for each day when I start and then a line or two as I work on tasks and I try to note each time I switch tasks.
I keep the notebooks but rarely look at them once they are filled. Maybe once or twice as I switch to a new notebook and then once again when it comes to yearly review time. A couple of times I have rifled through old ones looking for command line flags but most of the time reading through the notes is enough to jog my memory.
A real notebook and pen are the perfect tools for this. Its the only one I know that works, long term.
append only log works, but skimming through 2 months of logs for a specific thing is poor and slow but very useful. I don't do that often but when i do need it sometimes and especially fast, like on a call, with no lead time. Its a superpower.
I now organize my notebook a with a few conventions that make it more useful.
I limit myself to using only the right side of a page for logs from whole week. Each new week gets a new page, always on the right side. Put the date as the page header. Makes skimming easier. Put any important tasks / targets for the week right after.
Further Split right page into 3 columns. First 2 for work logs, third column for recurring weekly/biweekly meeting stuff. Very easy to go back to what was discussed 2 months ago. All logs are usually 1-3 words. Just cues. but everything has a topic subheader.
Left page is free form for detailed stuff. Things i discover, design, 1:1 meeting notes, questions i need answers to, philosophy, anything new on HN, etc. Right page serves as context.
I also do an index on the first page of the book pointing to anything that i find repeatedly useful. Could do page numbers but i put the date as its naturally ordered by the dates on the right page.
Been doing this a while and works perfect. I have everything I need in one notebook, i can carry it with me. a $1 composition book with 50 pages lasts well over six months.
For me, Sublime Text works well because I am researching and copy/pasting URLs, data, snippets etc into it which would slow down as "scratch" memory on paper
True for me too. The only advantages of digital notes (for me) have been searchability and shareability. One thing I keep occasionally going back to is Notion - for LaTeX support (I tend to use a lot of math. symbols) and now diagramming support using mermaid (since 2022, but I discovered that only a few months ago, and I find myself spending a little more time in Notion now).
If you're into notion I wanna recommend obsidian. It's got support for both of those and it's way more lightweight. If you use the tables and images a lot I will say notion is simpler to use there, the same is possible in obsidian but it's more work for sure, but when I was using it it started to feel bloated and even though I love it I wanted something smoother and obsidian has been exactly that. Plus local storage as markdown for reliable access even if obsidian ends up shutting down or something is nice, and unbeatable for searchability since you can ripgrep through it all with ease.
I have a nice setup with notebooks, on one page I put down the date and my meetings for the day, then i list the tasks i want to get done for the day. I start crossing things off once they are done per project. Went to standup? ok cool cross it off, new task comes in, add it to the list to priortize for the next day. I can go back and see what i've done on every single day and which days i've been in meetings most days. Having a nice pen/pencil really helps.
Also a note taker - the physical aspect acts as a kind of cementing the thought. I never look at my old notes either and discard them when the book is complete, it's just an excerise in helping me manage complexity.
I keep the notebooks but rarely look at them once they are filled. Maybe once or twice as I switch to a new notebook and then once again when it comes to yearly review time. A couple of times I have rifled through old ones looking for command line flags but most of the time reading through the notes is enough to jog my memory.