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As we’re about to start out the planning conferences for 2024 at AWS, I’ve been pondering rather a lot about how I take notes. In the identical vein, the method of placing collectively a re: Invent keynote takes months, and it implies that I’m assembly with loads of sensible people doing analysis and constructing wonderful merchandise. And at each assembly I’m taking notes — numerous them.
The earliest recollections 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 residence, examine what I’d copied, and finally take a check. 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 grew to become 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 could have copied the next definition verbatim: “The basic function of mitochondria is oxidative phosphorylation, which generates ATP by utilising the power launched through 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 truly 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, similar to: “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 be aware taking simply isn’t as efficient whenever you’re attempting to be taught and retain new info.
Pen and paper
To at the present time, I nonetheless take loads of my notes by hand. It helps me to keep up focus and internalise the vital bits. It’s inconceivable to jot down as quick as folks converse, so I’m compelled to jot down down what I feel is most vital 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 couple of months studying about and relearning completely different note-taking approaches. Every little thing 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 components: 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 overview questions and problem assumptions.
A current examine by Kuniyoshi Sakai, titled Paper Notebooks vs. Cell Gadgets: Mind Activation Variations Throughout Reminiscence Retrieval, truly confirmed increased retention and recall for topics that used pen and paper versus a keyboard, or pill and stylus. Nevertheless, there may be broad settlement that taking notes, in any kind with any enter, helps with encoding, retention, and recall.
As you may 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 search out its manner 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 an alternative of simply studying it drives this course of.
Utilizing ML and generative AI
There may be loads of worth within the act of taking notes and actively synthesising info. However we dwell in a world with extra information than we might 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. A couple of examples that come to thoughts are:
- Utilizing a transcription service with speaker identification to complement the notes you are taking throughout a gathering.
- Utilizing laptop imaginative and prescient and optical character recognition (OCR) to transform your handwritten notes into docs that you may 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, developments, and vital folks throughout tons of of pages from conferences, lectures, doc critiques, on-site visits, and many others.
I see this like studying a map. Should you return 20 years, studying a map was a reasonably widespread ability. You’d plan a route, take some notes, then attempt to navigate it. And in case 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 best way. You’d know when and the place there can 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 with no need to commit an excessive amount of to reminiscence.
It’s useful. It’s straightforward. That’s not likely 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 cellphone, or perhaps you need to disconnect from know-how), and realizing the place you’re and find out how to get the place you’re going are vital. And identical to taking notes by hand, it permits you to take away a number of the noise created by know-how, and to give attention to 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, numerous 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, numerous them.
Now, go construct!
Observe: I’m genuinely curious how my readers take notes and synthesise info. Should you’re doing issues in another way than me, let me know on Twitter or LinkedIn.
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