As we’re about to start out 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 numerous sensible of us doing analysis and constructing wonderful merchandise. And at each assembly I’m taking notes — plenty of them.
The earliest reminiscences I’ve of taking notes are in major college. I might copy word-for-word what the trainer would say or write on the board. Issues like definitions and multiplication tables. Then I’d go residence, examine what I’d copied, and finally take a take a look at. In follow, I used to be studying to encode, retailer, and recall info. When you consider it, it’s a bit like S3.
However this was memorisation, not synthesis.
As I continued alongside my instructional journey, and the subject material turned more and more extra complicated, it compelled me to rethink be aware 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 position of mitochondria is oxidative phosphorylation, which generates ATP by utilising the vitality launched through the oxidation of the meals we eat.” And when learning, I might 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 manner that was significant to me, equivalent to: “Mitochondria are the energy plant of the cell. They generate many of the chemical vitality 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 be aware taking simply isn’t as efficient while you’re making an attempt to be taught and retain new info.
Pen and paper
To at the present time, I nonetheless take numerous my notes by hand. It helps me to take care of focus and internalise the essential bits. It’s unimaginable to put in writing as quick as folks converse, so I’m compelled to put in writing down what I believe is most essential or make be aware 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 properly 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 actual fact (i.e., write a succinct abstract).
What I wind up with are structured notes which can be straightforward 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 evaluation questions and problem assumptions.
A latest examine by Kuniyoshi Sakai, titled Paper Notebooks vs. Cellular Gadgets: 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 an enormous 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 manner into my mind – one thing that doesn’t occur with digital. I even use the Cornell methodology when getting 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 an alternative of simply studying it drives this course of.
Utilizing ML and generative AI
There may be numerous worth within the act of taking notes and actively synthesising info. However we dwell in a world with extra information than we may ever moderately anticipate to comb via. That is an space the place ML and generative AI will play an more and more essential position. A number of 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 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 whole corpus of notes utilizing an LLM to determine themes, traits, and essential folks throughout a whole lot of pages from conferences, lectures, doc opinions, on-site visits, and so forth.
I see this like studying a map. If you happen to return 20 years, studying a map was a reasonably frequent talent. You’d plan a route, take some notes, then attempt to navigate it. And for those who took the route sufficient instances, you’d remember it. You’d bear in mind a fountain or the color of a particular home alongside the best way. You’d know when and the place there could be site visitors or development, and the alternate routes to get round it. However as of late, we simply use our telephones. We observe turn-by-turn instructions from street-to-street without having to commit an excessive amount of to reminiscence.
It’s useful. It’s straightforward. That’s probably not up for debate. However studying a bodily map remains to be a really helpful talent. There’ll inevitably be instances that you just don’t have cell service (otherwise you lose your telephone, or possibly you need to disconnect from know-how), and realizing the place you’re and the right way to get the place you’re going are essential. And similar to taking notes by hand, it means that you can take away a few of the noise created by know-how, and to concentrate on the essential bits.
I’m genuinely curious to see how analysis will evolve within the subsequent 10+ years as we proceed to review what works finest for digital natives.
Take notes, plenty 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 a beautiful second or perception or imaginative and prescient or phrase, to know you had it, then lose it.” My recommendation: take notes, plenty of them.
Now, go construct!
Observe: I’m genuinely curious how my readers take notes and synthesise info. If you happen to’re doing issues otherwise than me, let me know on Twitter or LinkedIn.