As we’re about to begin the planning conferences for 2024 at AWS, I’ve been considering quite a bit about how I take notes. In the identical vein, the method of placing collectively a re: Invent keynote takes months, and it signifies that I’m assembly with quite a lot of sensible people doing analysis and constructing superb merchandise. And at each assembly I’m taking notes — a lot of them.
The earliest reminiscences I’ve of taking notes are in major college. I’d copy word-for-word what the instructor would say or write on the board. Issues like definitions and multiplication tables. Then I’d go house, research what I’d copied, and ultimately take a check. In follow, I used to be studying to encode, retailer, and recall info. When you concentrate on it, it’s a bit like S3.
However this was memorisation, not synthesis.
As I continued alongside my academic journey, and the subject material turned more and more extra advanced, it compelled me to rethink observe taking. It was much less about being a scribe, and extra about listening, observing, and comprehending what was being taught. For instance, the youthful me might have copied the next definition verbatim: “The traditional function of mitochondria is oxidative phosphorylation, which generates ATP by utilising the power launched in the course of the oxidation of the meals we eat.” And when finding out, I’d have dedicated this to reminiscence with out essentially understanding the way it really labored. What would have been extra useful would have been to learn the definition, then write it out in a means that was significant to me, reminiscent of: “Mitochondria are the energy plant of the cell. They generate many of the chemical power wanted to energy the cell’s biochemical reactions.” Perhaps even diagram the method within the margins. That is synthesis. This denotes understanding.
And there’s analysis to again this up. Particularly, that verbatim observe taking simply isn’t as efficient if you’re making an attempt to study and retain new info.
Pen and paper
To today, I nonetheless take quite a lot of my notes by hand. It helps me to keep up focus and internalise the vital bits. It’s unimaginable to jot down as quick as individuals communicate, so I’m compelled to jot down down what I feel is most vital or make observe of what I don’t perceive in order that I can ask questions.
The Cornell Methodology
I’ve spent fairly a little bit of time over the previous few months studying about and relearning totally different note-taking approaches. The whole lot from outlining to thoughts mapping to charting. And what’s labored fairly effectively for me is the Cornell Methodology. A easy strategy that has you break up a pocket book web page into 4 elements: 1/ title, 2/ notes, 3/ key phrases/questions, and 4/ abstract. And no, it’s not as a result of I labored at Cornell for the higher a part of a decade, however as a result of this methodology encourages you to doc your thought processes (i.e., ask questions), synthesise what you’re studying in real-time (i.e., take notes), and summarise all of it after the very fact (i.e., write a succinct abstract).
What I wind up with are structured notes which are simple to learn, organise, and revisit, as a result of it’s extra than simply writing one thing down, however having the ability to return and evaluate questions and problem assumptions.
A current research by Kuniyoshi Sakai, titled Paper Notebooks vs. Cell Units: Mind Activation Variations Throughout Reminiscence Retrieval, really confirmed greater retention and recall for topics that used pen and paper versus a keyboard, or pill and stylus. Nonetheless, there may be broad settlement that taking notes, in any kind with any enter, helps with encoding, retention, and recall.
As you’ll be able to see from the picture above, I’m a giant fan of analog note-taking. For me, analog helps with memorising, synthesising, and summarising. As quickly as I write one thing down with pen and paper, it additionally appears to seek out its means into my mind – one thing that doesn’t occur with digital. I even use the Cornell methodology when making ready for conferences; I summarise the briefing doc in my pocket book, and it instantly sticks. The truth that you’re energetic with the textual content as a substitute of simply studying it drives this course of.
Utilizing ML and generative AI
There may be quite a lot of worth within the act of taking notes and actively synthesising info. However we stay in a world with extra knowledge than we may ever moderately count on to comb by means of. That is an space the place ML and generative AI will play an more and more vital function. Just a few examples that come to thoughts are:
- Utilizing a transcription service with speaker identification to complement the notes you’re taking throughout a gathering.
- Utilizing pc imaginative and prescient and optical character recognition (OCR) to transform your handwritten notes into docs which you could simply share with others or retailer in a central location. (Assuming that you just’re not already utilizing one thing like Kindle Scribe).
- Close to-instant summarisation.
- Iterating over a complete corpus of notes utilizing an LLM to establish themes, developments, and vital individuals throughout a whole lot of pages from conferences, lectures, doc opinions, on-site visits, and so forth.
I see this like studying a map. For those who return 20 years, studying a map was a reasonably frequent ability. You’d plan a route, take some notes, then attempt to navigate it. And should you took the route sufficient instances, you’d recall it. You’d bear in mind a fountain or the color of a particular home alongside the way in which. You’d know when and the place there could be visitors or building, and the alternate routes to get round it. However as of late, we simply use our telephones. We comply with turn-by-turn instructions from street-to-street while not having to commit an excessive amount of to reminiscence.
It’s useful. It’s simple. That’s probably not up for debate. However studying a bodily map remains to be a really helpful ability. There’ll inevitably be instances that you just don’t have cell service (otherwise you lose your telephone, or perhaps you wish to disconnect from know-how), and figuring out the place you’re and the way to get the place you’re going are vital. And similar to taking notes by hand, it lets you take away a few of the noise created by know-how, and to concentrate on the vital bits.
I’m genuinely curious to see how analysis will evolve within the subsequent 10+ years as we proceed to check what works greatest for digital natives.
Take notes, a lot of them
I’ll depart you with a quote from the author Anne Lamott: “[…] one of many worst emotions I can consider, [is] to have had an exquisite second or perception or imaginative and prescient or phrase, to know you had it, then lose it.” My recommendation: take notes, a lot of them.
Now, go construct!
Be aware: I’m genuinely curious how my readers take notes and synthesise info. For those who’re doing issues otherwise than me, let me know on Twitter or LinkedIn.