Engineering Notes

On this episode of Communication Mechanics, Jill Fennell talks with Georgia Tech alumnus Mykala D.D. Sinclair about the importance of taking notes as an engineer and the impact the practice has had on their growth and career.

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Show Notes and Timestamps

• 00:43 Intro to topic and guest.
• 02:13 Why engineers need to take notes seriously.
• 03:47 What makes professional notes different?
• 05:04 What separates useful documentation from writing down everything?
• 06:00 What information matters most when reviewing notes.
• 06:59 Situations during which new engineers take too few notes.
• 08:08 Distinguishing between a discussion with colleagues and something that needs to be part of the record.
• 09:29 Traceability and how documentation can support it.
• 11:19 Notes as team infrastructure and how they can change when they support an entire team.
• 12:44 What happens when critical project information exists only in one person’s memory.
• 14:55 How teams decide where notes should live and who’s responsible for maintaining them.
• 16:35 Notes as a thinking tool and how writing things down changes how you think about a problem.
• 18:53 Using notes to track open questions and notebook use.
• 20:26 Recommended habits for students to build for taking notes on paper.
• 22:06 Relegating notes to certain parts of the process versus taking them in an ongoing process.
• 23:10 Personal statements and student growth in professional contexts.
• 24:56 Using notes to prepare for job interviews and performance reviews.
• 26:44 How to take notes without creating more work.
• 28:34 Advice regarding routines and methods of notetaking.
• 32:27 Starting small for notetaking and recommendations - recording lessons learned and accomplishments.
• 33:58 Professional boundaries and things that shouldn’t be written down.
• 35:00 One notetaking mistake you see early career professionals making.
• 36:20 How has writing notes changed your understanding of your career.

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Episode edited by Lee Hibbard.