I was instructed to keep notebooks by my engineering professors when I was getting my degree in Electrical Engineering. I was told that all good engineers kept notebooks and so I dutifully obliged. When I went to work for Oracle Corporation right out of college, I continued to keep notebooks and have kept every single one. My professors told me that my employers would want to retain my notebooks when I left but not a single company has ever asked for them.
Naturally I started a new notebook when I joined my current company and have filled two volumes. My coworkers see my notebooks and have been known to make copies of various pages. I have even had several people mention that I should write a book. I tell them I have and that it was a lot of work for very little pay. Lately I have been thinking about writing another book though. The only problem is that people don't really read technical books any more. It is much easier find information on the Internet. Then my boss suggested I write a technical blog, string the entries together, and create an electronic book of sorts. I suppose I could do that with this blog, but it is far too diverse for a single book. Besides I try to keep my entries short and simple so that everyone can understand them.
The book I want to write is very technical and so this evening I will be starting a second blog. Don't worry, I will still contribute to this one so that I get my 71 entries per year. My second blog will be a deep dive into PostgreSQL. PostgreSQL has some of the best documentation for any computer software, whether commercial or open source. However it lacks a cohesive set of examples and certain solutions to real-world problems. My hope is that my new blog will work hand-in-hand with the existing documentation and add clarity to some rather difficult concepts. Hopefully it solves a hole that I feel exists currently.
Showing posts with label Engineering notebook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Engineering notebook. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Holy Cow, It Worked!
Yesterday I wrote about constructive procrastination and how I was thinking about solving a problem while I was writing the blog. As soon as I posted the entry, I went to work using some of the ideas I formulated. Ten minutes later my problem was solved and I was moving on to my next project. I should procrastinate more often.
Today there were no problems with my new project. I am reworking something I did a few months ago and took such good notes the first time that I had everything working quickly. I really like having good notes handy.
This brings up the topic of how to best keep notes. Usually I keep a paper notebook. Lately I have found that it is much easier to cut and paste information into an electronic document. It saves a lot of time over writing things down. I can also cut and paste out of the document and into the programs I am using, which saves even more time. Then to make things really easy, I just store all of my notes in a directory called . . . you guessed it, "notes." The name of the file is what the note is about. It really helps to streamline things.
My Tomcat problem took longer than expected to solve. My notes helped me finish my next task quicker than expected. Now I find myself on schedule and ready to begin the next project. I wonder if I can really claim procrastination as a tool that helped me solve a problem?
Today there were no problems with my new project. I am reworking something I did a few months ago and took such good notes the first time that I had everything working quickly. I really like having good notes handy.
This brings up the topic of how to best keep notes. Usually I keep a paper notebook. Lately I have found that it is much easier to cut and paste information into an electronic document. It saves a lot of time over writing things down. I can also cut and paste out of the document and into the programs I am using, which saves even more time. Then to make things really easy, I just store all of my notes in a directory called . . . you guessed it, "notes." The name of the file is what the note is about. It really helps to streamline things.
My Tomcat problem took longer than expected to solve. My notes helped me finish my next task quicker than expected. Now I find myself on schedule and ready to begin the next project. I wonder if I can really claim procrastination as a tool that helped me solve a problem?
Friday, November 13, 2009
A Good Notebook
Recently I was cleaning out my office and found a bunch of notebooks from college. In the engineering program, each class has you purchase a notebook with graph paper sewn in. Each page is supposed to be numbered. If you wanted to spend a bit of money, you could buy the notebooks with the numbers already printed at the top of each page. I didn't mind writing the numbers myself and saved some cash.
In school, the professors wanted you to keep detailed notes of everything you did. We were supposed to write everything down and part of the class grade was based on your notebook. If you tried an experiment and it didn't work, make a note of it and try again. If things did work the first time then there was a lot less writing. When I was done with school, I continued keeping notebooks. It was, and still is, a great way to keep track of information.
While cleaning out my basement, I also found a bunch of 3-ring binders from school. I immediately threw out the insides and put the binder in my "for the kids" pile. Sometimes I will need a binder and pull from the pile as well.
When I started my latest project, I decided to use on of the 3-ring binders instead of a notebook. I am such a perfectionist that I have grown tired of printing out important e-mails, trimming the margins in the paper cutter, and gluing them into my notebook. I thought it would be much easier to print out the e-mail, 3-hole punch it, and put it in my binder. It turns out, I am saving an incredible amount of time. The downside is that I might be putting too much information in the notebook now.
Today my notebook has helped me tremendously and here is why. If you have a problem once, it is important to write down the steps used to help solve it. Chances are that you will have the problem again and don't want to recreate the solution. Then keep your notebook by the computer so you don't have to go looking for it. A problem I had solved earlier came up again today. All I had to do was look at my notes and I had the solution in a matter of minutes.
In school, the professors wanted you to keep detailed notes of everything you did. We were supposed to write everything down and part of the class grade was based on your notebook. If you tried an experiment and it didn't work, make a note of it and try again. If things did work the first time then there was a lot less writing. When I was done with school, I continued keeping notebooks. It was, and still is, a great way to keep track of information.
While cleaning out my basement, I also found a bunch of 3-ring binders from school. I immediately threw out the insides and put the binder in my "for the kids" pile. Sometimes I will need a binder and pull from the pile as well.
When I started my latest project, I decided to use on of the 3-ring binders instead of a notebook. I am such a perfectionist that I have grown tired of printing out important e-mails, trimming the margins in the paper cutter, and gluing them into my notebook. I thought it would be much easier to print out the e-mail, 3-hole punch it, and put it in my binder. It turns out, I am saving an incredible amount of time. The downside is that I might be putting too much information in the notebook now.
Today my notebook has helped me tremendously and here is why. If you have a problem once, it is important to write down the steps used to help solve it. Chances are that you will have the problem again and don't want to recreate the solution. Then keep your notebook by the computer so you don't have to go looking for it. A problem I had solved earlier came up again today. All I had to do was look at my notes and I had the solution in a matter of minutes.
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