Keys to Efficiency Part 3: Documenting for the Future

You’ve honed your skills and expanded your toolbelt – now it’s time to ensure your knowledge and experience don’t go to waste.

In a fast-paced work environment, it’s all too common to leave things undocumented, thinking we’ll remember the details later. But then life happens – maybe just the weekend, a vacation, or another project pulls us away. When we finally return to that task or project, we waste precious time reconstructing what was left unfinished. Documenting as you work isn’t just a nice-to-have – it’s essential for efficiency.

Documentation is like a breadcrumb trail you leave for your future self, and it’s also a safety net for your team. Whether you’re learning new skills, tracking task progress, or working on a project that might be passed to someone else, having organized notes can make all the difference. By blending professional and personal note-taking, you create a quick reference system that captures experience you don’t need to recall every day but might need another time. It’s also a well studied fact that writing things down helps you remember them better.

#Why Documentation is Essential for Efficiency

When we don’t document our work, we force ourselves to rely on memory – an inherently unreliable and time-consuming process. Here’s why documentation is so essential for maintaining an efficient workflow:

1. Continuity – When you step away from a project, even for a short break, your brain has to work to “reload” context when you return. Documenting lets you pick up right where you left off, eliminating the time it takes to remember what you were working on.
2. Team Collaboration – Documentation is crucial when you’re part of a team. It allows others to pick up where you left off, reduces the need for extra meetings, and prevents redundant efforts.
3. Skill Retention – Documentation doesn’t just apply to project tasks. When learning new skills or techniques, keeping a record ensures you have a quick reference to review instead of starting from scratch each time.

The goal is simple: you shouldn’t waste time on tasks you’ve already done. Document once, and you’ll save yourself (and your colleagues) time in the future.

#Organized, Purposeful Note-Taking

Documentation is most effective when it’s well-organized, purposeful, and accessible. That means using different systems for different types of information and maintaining a structured approach that makes it easy to know exactly where your information is stored. Here’s one way to approach it:

#Different Systems for Different Purposes

Use multiple documentation systems that align with the specific purpose of each type of note:

• Long-term documentation – Use a platform like Confluence or Google Drive for project documentation or information that needs to be accessible over time. This is where key project details, processes, and team-shared knowledge should live.
• Task-related documentation – Keep project and task-specific notes in a project management tool (like Asana, Trello, or Jira) so everyone involved has quick access to current task information. Make sure to always update these when new information is available.
• Personal notes – For skills you’re developing or quick, daily notes, use a tool that’s easily accessible to you, such as a note-taking app or physical notebook. This system should serve as a place for information that you’ll review, consolidate, or integrate over time.

#Make Daily Notes a Habit

Develop a habit of making daily notes to capture everything relevant that happens throughout your workday. If you prefer to use paper, consider digitizing these notes at the end of each day so they’re easier to search and reference later. These daily notes can act as a temporary “memory bank” until you review and integrate them into your long-term documentation system.

This also solves the following problems:

• You always have a place to jot down quick thoughts, ideas or meeting notes
• You can easily find information later when you need it
• You get into the habit of documenting as you go

#Regularly Review and Integrate Your Notes

To prevent information from getting stale or lost, review your notes periodically. During these reviews, integrate key points from your daily notes into your main documentation systems. For example:

• Summarize major insights or decisions from daily notes into project documentation.
• Add key learning points from personal notes into a more comprehensive skill-building document.

This process ensures your documentation is always up-to-date, clear, and relevant. It also reinforces your understanding and saves time later when you or others need to reference important information.

It’s also your touch point to create boilerplate templates for complex tasks or projects. This way you can start new projects faster and with less friction.

#The Goal: Know Where to Find Important Information

Your documentation system should make it easy to find what you need, exactly where you expect it. Storing task-related information in a personal notebook, for example, may prevent team members from accessing it when needed. Instead, having a reliable system where each type of note is stored appropriately allows you and your team to access crucial information without delay or confusion.

#Characteristics of Good Documentation

Good documentation isn’t just about capturing information; it’s about making it useful. Aim to create documentation that is:

• Clear – Use concise language that anyone on the team can understand.

• Concise – Avoid excess details; include only what’s essential for understanding the work.

• Transparent – Document the reasoning behind key decisions so that others understand not just what was done but why.

• Easily accessible – Store notes in places where they can be found when needed, using tags, folders, or categories as needed to keep everything organized.

• The specific meaning of these criteria will depend on the context – long-term documentation for a project, for instance, may require more detail and structure than a quick daily note. However, clarity and accessibility should be the guiding principles across all documentation efforts.

#Conclusion

Documenting as you go may seem like an extra step, but it’s a powerful investment in your future efficiency. By organizing your notes with purpose, maintaining consistency in your systems, and combining professional and personal insights, you create a reliable, searchable knowledge base. The time you save by not having to “relearn” or “rediscover” is time you can reinvest in moving forward, not retracing old steps.

As with the other skills: You need to develop a mindset for documenting and see it as a part of your workflow, not an extra task. The more you practice, the more natural it will become, and the more time you’ll save in the long run.