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Ask HN: Do you keep a developer diary?

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Ask HN: Do you keep a developer diary?

#1

Post by simopaa »

I recently was struggling with an design/architecture issue all day, and when I was finished I thought about writing down some thoughts about the what/how/why aspects of my solution for future reference. I then stumbled on the term 'developer diary' for this kind of thing (for ex. https://www.smartics.eu/confluence/display/PDAC1/Developer+Diaries), that apparently some software developers hold in high regard.

I will be trying to keep my own (though a bit more light/free form than that in the link) in order to bring a bit more structure to my day-to-day.

Do you have any experience with developer diaries? Have they helped you become a better developer, and if so, what kind of effects did you notice?

Re: Ask HN: Do you keep a developer diary?

#2

Post by simonw »

I use Evernote for this - every time I figure out how to do something I drop it in a note. I create 4-5 notes a day. It's incredibly useful - I find myself referring back to some notes months after the fact.

My team also do standups on Slack, and I've got into the habit of writing detailed Slack stand up bullet points with links to commits, documents I've created and so on - almost a semi-public developer diary. I don't check back to these very often myself, but they do spark some useful conversations.

I've also gotten into the habit of writing extremely details commit messages - often multiple paragraphs for a few lines of code change - that record the background and reasoning that lead me to the change. I do most of my code reading through the GitHub web interface, frequently referring to blame and history, so the more context I can find for historical commits the better.

Re: Ask HN: Do you keep a developer diary?

#5

Post by uvatbc »

I keep daily status logs to remind myself of the work that I have done because that's the only way I can put a stop to the nagging anxiety that I haven't done enough.

A nice side effect is that weekly status meetings are easy.

A simple markdown formatted file is more than enough.

Re: Ask HN: Do you keep a developer diary?

#6

Post by lelandbatey »

I do, though I guess I arrived at the idea more informally. I use it chiefly as a checklist, where at the top of each "page" I list the things I want to grapple with that day. Then the rest of the document is where I commit my thoughts and questions about the subject.

Re: Ask HN: Do you keep a developer diary?

#7

Post by captn3m0 »

uvatbc wrote: post #5

I keep daily status logs to remind myself of the work that I have done because that's the only way I can put a stop to the nagging anxiety that I haven't done enough. A nice side effect is that weekly status meetings are easy. A simple markdown formatted file is more than enough.

I keep something similar to a .plan file which I serve at /plan/ on my machine so others at work can take a look.

I have headings as: "Working on", "Will be soon working on", and "Worked on" to mark my ongoing, todo, and done tasks.

Re: Ask HN: Do you keep a developer diary?

#8

Post by MaulingMonkey »

Yes and no. I tend to write long, rambling details along the same lines in my commit descriptions and JIRA tasks (after the shorter summary that people will actually bother to read). I've even got tools to pull all my commits from multiple projects for easier review of the previous week/month.

The only standalone artifact I keep, though, is an excel spreadsheet tracking rough office hours, project, caffeine consumption, and choice of lunch. This helps me reassure myself that I'm not slacking off (especially when I'm considering a short day), a top level rough timeline, keep my caffeine intake in check, etc.

Re: Ask HN: Do you keep a developer diary?

#9

Post by SFJulie »

I keep a diary: with following info day : arriving : departure : time of lunch // travel time.

Why ?

I noticed after 43h in a moving window of 5 days my focus, irritability is up to the roof and I make way too much mistakes that can lead to a dramatic mistake.

My work contract is 37.5 so everytime I reach too much overhead I talk to my manager ask him if he will need me one day to make extra efforts in case of emergency?

He says yes, I say I will abide but if we are working under normal load, than he needs me to rest and give me my time back.

He then picks on me, saying it is my responsibility to not stay to long at work, I make him notice it is because of the company management I have to stay late and the deadline.

He grumbles says it is not the right time.

I go to see the CEO say the same thing

They give me my family time back. I stay quite rested (add 2h30m / day (when the rail company has exceptionally no problem) of commuting with the worsts train lanes of Europa (1M commuters/days)) so it actually feels like commuting is working. Teleworking is denied for lack of control.

Oh! and lunch time is not counted as worked hours except for the other managers. (so I stay away from my family 10hours per day, I see my wife 5 hours a day).

That is the only diary I am keeping.

If I get overworked/burntout, it costs nothing to the company, but I will certainly get fired sooner or later and have a hard time finding a job with a sort of depression running.

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