“I Don’t Remember What I Ate Yesterday… But I Document Everything”
How Embracing Documentation Has Been My Superpower in IT
I’ve watched Jeopardy! and marveled at how contestants recall obscure facts, historical dates, and complex trivia in seconds. Their ability to instantly access what seems like endless mental storage is impressive.
Me? I often can’t remember what I had for dinner yesterday.
But here’s the thing: in over a decade of working in IT, I’ve realized that having an incredible memory isn’t the only way to succeed — especially in complex technical environments. In fact, one of the most underrated and powerful tools in IT is documentation.
🛠️ Documentation is My External Memory
Early in my career, I realized that I couldn’t rely solely on memory to solve recurring problems, troubleshoot effectively, or onboard new systems quickly. Instead, I started building my own playbooks — not just for the issues I fixed, but for how I fixed them.
I documented:
- The quirks of a legacy application we supported
- Common production outages and the steps to recover
- Step-by-step deployment guides for weekend changes
- Login URLs, alert formats, and even who to call when something breaks
These notes became gold.
🔁 Consistency Beats Memory
In IT, there are people with razor-sharp memories who can pull from years of experience. But consistency — the kind that comes from disciplined documentation — has allowed me to match pace and often lead the way.
Documentation:
- Reduces downtime because you’re not starting from scratch each time
- Builds repeatable processes that others can follow
- Saves time when onboarding teammates or handing off work
- Frees up your brain to focus on more strategic problems
💡 Tools That Help Me Stay Organized
- Notepad++ for creating personal knowledge bases
- Confluence for team-shared documentation
- Runbooks for version-controlled operational steps
- Screenshots, logs, and “lessons learned” after each major incident
I treat documentation like I’m writing for future me, who might not remember the exact issue but will appreciate the breadcrumb trail.
✅ My Success Hasn’t Come From Memorizing Everything… But From Writing Things Down
Some people are great at remembering everything. Others, like me, are great at remembering where to look.
If you’re like me — someone who doesn’t have a photographic memory — don’t see it as a weakness. Instead, turn it into your strength. Build systems. Take notes. Write everything down. The more you document, the more confident and dependable you become — for yourself and your team.
📌 What’s your system for staying organized or remembering key work? I’d love to hear how others in tech approach this!
#ITSupport #DevOps #DocumentationMatters #TechTips #Reliability #IncidentManagement #JeopardySkillsNotRequired
Mitchell Lyon 