Logbook

I’m convinced that a daily logbook is useful to my growth as a software crafter, but like most good things, it requires practice and discipline.

What

Logbook. noun — a regular or systematic record of incidents or observations.

Why

As a developer, writing in a logbook everyday is a gift to your future self.

You’ve experienced something today, and both that experience, and the experience of chronicling it, can be useful to you in the future.

If you don’t believe me, believe them, and them, and them, and them.

Just try it for a month. There’s nothing to lose.

What Has Worked for Me:

1. Add the following to your ~/.bashrc:

alias logbook='<EDITOR> ~/<FOLDER>/$(date "+%Y-%m-%d").<md OR <txt>'

For example, to open a new markdown logbook page in vim, located in my ~/logbook folder, I have the following in my ~/.zshrc:

alias logbook='vim ~/logbook/$(date "+%Y-%m-%d").md'

2. Restart your terminal

3. Enter the following in your terminal:

$ logbook

4. Write. There are no rules.

5. Bonus. Commit to a private git repo

What I’ve Learned

• Writing in my logbook before leaving work has allowed me to leave work at work
• Writing in my logbook takes an immense about of discipline
• I can better articulate what I find painful/difficult/confusing/scary/frustrating
• I can better articulate what I am grateful for, delighted by, curious about, interested in
• I’ve been able to log my learning in a way that let’s me identify patterns
• Becoming better at articulating technical details has made me a better team member