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Martin Hähnel

Keeping A Dev Log

Just a short note (a seedling, if you will) that keeping a dev log in some form or fashion is very helpful. What is a dev log?[1]

It's a log in which you write down what you're doing or have done throughout your work day. You simply write down what you're doing as you work. You could jot down...

In short: Write down anything that will help you figure out what to do next (and maybe how to do it better/quicker/smarter in the future). You can get super-fancy or just create a long bulleted list. The choice is totally yours.[2]

But regardless of how you implement the practice, having an external "log" can really help you avoid getting lost in the weeds, capitalizing on prior solutions and making sure you don't have to try the same wrong thing twice.

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  1. If you're not a developer, you may prefer the term "work journal". In any case it's a practice loosely adapted from laboratory science and is therefore not specific only to developers. ↩︎

  2. I'd personally recommend keeping in mind that your actual work should be the priority so don't end up creating the "perfect" dev log. ↩︎