Save Your Work

Here's a useful habit I've picked up as a software engineer. Every time you do something difficult, create a reproducible artifact that can be used to do it more easily next time, and shared with others.

Some examples of this:

• You spent all afternoon debugging a thorny issue. Write down the monitoring you checked and the steps you took to reach the conclusion you did. Put these details in the issue tracker, before moving on to actually fix it.
• You figured out what commands to run to get the binary to work properly. Turn the commands into a short script and check it into source control.
• You spent a day reading the code and figuring out how it works. Write yourself some notes and documentation as you go. At the end, take half an hour to clean it up and send it to your boss or teammates who might find it helpful. Maybe even put up a documentation website if that seems appropriate.

This makes it easier to pick up where you left off for next time (for you or someone else), and makes it easier to prove that the work you're doing is difficult and has value.