High-output engineering teams make good documentation a habit. They take detailed notes in meetings so that every decision has context. They attack problems methodically in writing. They solicit feedback asynchronously to get to the best solutions.

The problem with documentation is that — in the absence of a system — it can be a lot. A lot scattered across multiple tools, folders, repositories, emails, and uncategorized Google Docs. What's lost can't be learned from. It can't make your team stronger.

That's why we're sharing these two tools. Our team uses them, as do dozens of others, to give notes structure, make them easy to find, and — most importantly — make them useful.

In this post, you'll learn how to:

• Build a Meeting Notes database to give everyone time-saving, morale-boosting visibility
• Build Docs to make all your specs, proposals, research, etc. collaborative and searchable
• Customize both to your team's needs and workflows

Here's how your notes and docs could look:

Why good notes are a competitive

advantage for engineers

What earns someone the coveted title of "10x engineer"? They ship with speed and quality. Not just sometimes — consistently. This requires repeatable systems for higher order thought.

Good notes help you go faster 🏎

• They're easy to find so you don't waste time hunting for information.
• They're structured so you can extract value with a quick skim.
• They give you a record of what's been tried and what works — so you don't duplicate effort.

Good notes make your work better ⭐️

• They capture your ideas so nothing gets forgotten.
• They give you a place to think deeply about problems, implications, edge cases.