Keep a personal copy of all documentation you create.
Keeping a copy of all of the documentation you create is a pretty general benefit. It helps you in three major ways;
- Having a personal copy means that if the systems that have the public copies become unavailable, you will still have access to them.
- Some times projects that get shelved, lose their documentation. If you have a personal copy, when the project comes back to life, you will not be starting over.
- And you never know what future project you will be working on that will spark the memory, “Hey we solved a problem like this on this other project…” And having the documentation for it will help you.
I have never regretted keeping a personal copy of documentation. But I have always regretted knowing that I didn’t keep one when I could have used it.
So now it is time to examine what is the best way for you to keep your personal copies. In years past, I have kept folders of documents on a flash drive or the hard drive of my laptop. Well over the last year I have changed my strategy, I now use a service called Evernote. It may not be for you, but if you haven’t checked them out and you don’t have a method of keeping your personal copies of documentation organized.
If Evernote is not for you, what is? Try some different methods and post what you like to do in the comments to help other readers of this blog.
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