Lots of developers that I've met and read about highly recommend keeping a Dev Journal. Stand-ups and check-ins in professional development and engineering teams happen daily to keep track of their progress. There's also a devjournal tag within this Dev.to community with lots of focused posts on their learning.
But for someone like me, a self-taught dabbler, I've tried millions of different journals including Apple Notes, Notion, and my most recent obsession, Obsidian. Even though Obsidian does have a UI and workflow that I am easily accustomed to, its daily notes intuition just doesn't really cut it for me. I'm someone who hates looking at blank pages. It's uninspiring and incredibly dangerous, because that's where the options are limitless and at the same time they're nowhere.
So I've built a few templates for my daily notes to track my progress, but I still find them pretty underwhelming since I have to click through all of them to read what I did the past week or month. This kept me from continuing the consistency of writing everyday, let alone the fact that I took time out of my day to do this, that led up to a bunch of lost notes with no actual context of progress or reflective insights.
Relative to this, it's easier for me to look through photos, i.e. a gallery style visual board to see what I was doing the the past week or month. I've tried writing in this style within an Obsidian note with the simplest formats: The month it is, the day of the month and what I'm working on, all within the same page, so I can scroll to the top when I'm at the end of the month to see how much I've progressed.
This of course isn't the best solution but it's somehow working at the moment. I've initially thought of starting an Instagram or Twitter account dedicated to post short videos of my progress, however I'm terrified of how I instantly get distracted once the focus shifts to gathering a social media following instead of my learning.
Share with me some of the progress-tracking tools you've used! Should I start an Instagram account or just keep going with my Obsidian page workflow? Do you face the same troubles as I do? Let me know what you think and do drop me a follow too!
Top comments (4)
I had the same trouble with Obsidian! 2 years doing daily notes and most of them are unsearchable and some notes just don't have any valuable. This is regarding my work vault ofc, my personal vaults are a mess and that's the way I like them.
What I ended up doing is a single note for EVERYTHING regarding my job and when any of those notes deserve to be kept or provide value, I create a note for it and add tags :3 made an MOC for those tags and now I live my life stress free from having to do daily/weekly/monthly notes xD I also keep my list of features/epic/bugs I need to work on as well... we don't use a team kanban or anything of the sort. So, had to improvise.
I also use a Hobonichi for my daily home to-dos and work schedule because time-sheets. I'm not a fan of handling it digitally since I handle several calendars and I also want to take note of not really work related stuff. Also, I can do mini rants there.
In time you'll create your own system that works for you! It's always nice to try different methods but if it doesn't work, then it's time to move on :3
Best tool for me in this regard is a hand-written journal.
What works for me is a simple approach (like Ben Halpern's hand-written journal), expect I maintain this in an electronic form (e.g. journal.txt). Using your favorite editor gives you a lot of power to do a variety of things.
I maintain a convention, where the bottom of the journal is maintained as TODOs. Use whatever heuristic you like ... I precede the entries with a double question mark (indicating they are yet to be accomplished) ... ex:
Once each TODO has been accomplished, I retain it in a chronological "Dated Order" above my TODOs. This becomes a detailed account of what I did (in history). Ex:
Hopefully you get the idea.
I have used this journal in many ways ... everything from keeping track of when I did what to looking up historical items requested by "political minded" managers. You can maintain as much or as little detail to fit your needs.
The nice thing about keeping it simple (i.e. a simple text file) is you have a lot of flexibility in your format.
It's very helpful to keep track of detailed items that you don't want to forget. And because it is electronic, you can adjust it as needed (ex: re-arrange TODOs to focus on changing priorities).
Hello Chloe,
It's great that you've tried Apple Notes, Notion, and Obsidian.
Yes, documentation can be more engaging and easier to review with visuals, such as diagrams and pictures.
Here are a few suggestions:
Trello or Kanban Board:
Trello lets you create task cards, add images, and checklists, and track progress visually. It's intuitive and great for managing your workflow.
Voice Notes or Videos:
If writing is uninspiring, try recording voice notes or short videos of your progress. Store them in a folder to review later.
Daily Summary Notes:
Write a brief daily summary of accomplishments instead of detailed logs. This reduces pressure and helps maintain consistency. (Small steps at a time 😉)
Visual Progress Boards:
Since photos work for you, try a visual progress board. Post screenshots, code snippets, and brief notes using tools like Miro or Pinterest.
In my opinion, starting an Instagram or Twitter account could be distracting. It may be more advantageous to stick with a less public platform.
Remember, consistency is key. Pick something appropriate for your daily routine that will improve your learning without becoming a burden.
I hope you find something that works for you. All the best! 😊
Don't hesitate to follow me as well! 😉
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