How A Notebook Makes All The Difference

This post was published 4 years 19 days ago and as such probably does not reflect my current opinions, knowledge or ability.

“When you fail to prepare you prepare to fail” –Every guidance teacher in the world ever.

Whilst the importance of planning out a program before beginning to write it has been stressed to me over and over again, it wasn’t until I struggled through a project last year without any prior design work that I actually took this seriously. So this university term I’ve made a huge change to the way I work, and all it took was to buy a notepad.

My Sketchbook

Now, absolutely everything I need to think about goes into this one book. Plans for the structure of a program. Working out coordinates for drawing a cube. Listing alternatives for collision detection. I always have the book on me, so ideas can be jotted down in it, and all my thoughts are kept together – if I need to look back at a solution I’ve worked out before, I’ll have no difficulty finding it. The work in it can be rough a lot of the time, like when I’m brainstorming ideas, neat and organized like when I plan out database structure, or highly illustrated like when I design my next game or website.

Keeping Me Away From The Computer

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I didn’t try to plan before now. It’s just that plans tended to be a few lines in a notepad before I decided I had a fair idea in my head and plunged into programming. Since each project I work on is bigger and more complex than the last, that’s no longer an alternative for me. Having a piece of paper rather than a computer screen means I can move away from my desk, and refuse to go back and program until I’ve laid out what I intend to do. That doesn’t mean I won’t make changes later, but so far at least I haven’t hit any walls where I’ve found a huge design flaw or had to rip my code apart completely.

Linking Ideas

An unexpected benefit of this was that by using the same notebook for all of my programming work, I’ve been able to tie the work from different modules together far better. What I’ve already written for PS2 programming is also relevant to Windows, which in turn can even affect my web development. It’s made it much easier to avoid doing the same work twice, and to learn from my mistakes in each piece of coursework.

Taking It Further

I was surprised at how much of a difference something as simple as a notepad has made to my programming work, and it’s certainly not something I intend to give up any time soon. I already tend to reflect on each task I have to complete mentally, but in future I intend to use my notepad to keep track of exactly what went well, and what could be done better. My goals and lists of tasks which are normally still written in a text document will probably also be written on paper from now on. I just have to hope I don’t lose the notebook!

Some Questions

As ever, I’d love to hear everyone else’s experiences and thoughts on this. Do you make plans before you begin a project and if not, have you had any problems because of it? Do you like keeping track of things on a computer, or do you prefer good old-fashioned pen and paper? Do you have any tips or advice to help with planning and organization?

Empty Pages Waiting To Be Filled by Drew Wilson Photography