Is taking notes at work helpful ?

#YoungProfessional

Notes, those smudged papers that you used to cherish as a student and hold on to as if they’d had the answers for all the worlds problems.

You’ll notice no one talks about notes at work; well it’s not because you don’t need them, (to survive you do) it’s just they simply have a different name for them. Notes is ammeter, but process documentation or work instructions has a ring to it. (opinionated humorous statements rather than facts)

Personally, notes have been my best friend in university and contrary to the advice I received in work they’ve actually helped me. Let’s look at some pros and cons to better determine whether they’d help you as well or not, as it’s very situational.

Pros:

• If your role has technical aspects, or you use multiple softwares, this will help you keep detailed steps of how to access information and use these softwares without having to ask others constantly “how to get x” and “where to find y”
• It can act as your personal source of information, or informational hub let’s call it, offering you a quick method to search for information whenever you need it, rather than trying to remember what was said or how a certain task was done or when it is needed
• If you want to be recognized as a fast learner, this is a big help, as remembering everything at the start can be difficult but when you have notes you just go back to them whenever you have a question or an issue

Cons:

• Takes time
• Takes effort to check constantly, update the information, and archive outdated ones
• It can become messy if you have multiple notes sources such as physical papers and then notes on your laptop and having to constantly combine them

I think a last important point to consider, is using the right tool, a normal file is a nightmare and a no-no so you can skip that. What I’d recommend is check which tools your company supports, try a few of them for a few days, and stick to the one that’s smoothest to update and check. Ideally you’d need one with multiple subfolders that are connected via a simple user interface. Also, try to keep your notes professional, you never know who you may end up sharing them with. Oh, and backup everything cause we’ve all had those catastrophes of spilling something on our devices.

Bonus Tips:

• For technical notes, check if your department has work instructions already which you can add notes on top off rather than starting from scratch. This can save you a lot of time.
• If someone new joins your team, offer them your notes for help. It’s always nice to help someone suffer a little less than you did when you were the newbie 🙂

Give it a try yourself and let me know if it helps !

Till next time 🙂 !