Note Taking

Skill: note-taking

What I do

I help you capture thoughts and information effectively to build long-term knowledge. I focus on creating notes that are easy to find and use later. I ensure that your note-taking process supports clear thinking and effective retrieval of information.

When to use me

• When you're investigating a complex issue and need to track your findings.
• When you're attending a meeting or reading a technical document.
• When you're brainstorming ideas for a new project or feature.
• When you're building a personal knowledge base in Obsidian.

Core principles

1. Atomic notes, write one idea per note so they're easier to link and reuse.
2. Capture vs Process, separate the act of gathering information from the act of organising it.
3. Linking over tagging, use bidirectional links to build a network of ideas rather than just categorising them.
4. Progressive summarisation, layer your notes so you can quickly understand the key points later.

Patterns & examples

Atomic notes

Keep notes focused on a single concept or topic.

• Example, Create a note titled "Dependency Injection" that explains only that pattern, rather than a broad note called "Design Patterns".

Progressive summarisation

Use bolding and highlights to make key points stand out.

• Level 1, Raw notes from a meeting.
• Level 2, Bold the most important phrases.
• Level 3, Write a one-sentence summary at the top.

Linking to build a graph

Use [[Link]] syntax to connect related ideas.

• Pattern, When writing a note about "Goroutines", link to "Concurrency" and "Channels".

Fleeting vs Permanent notes

Differentiate between temporary thoughts and long-term knowledge.

• Fleeting, Quick ideas captured in the moment.
• Permanent, Carefully written notes that are added to your main knowledge base.

Anti-patterns to avoid

• ❌ The "Note Graveyard", capturing information without ever reviewing or linking it.
• ❌ Over-categorisation, spending too much time on folder structures instead of content and links.
• ❌ Duplicate notes, creating multiple notes on the same topic because you couldn't find the existing one.
• ❌ Copy-pasting walls of text, always rewrite information in your own words to ensure you understand it.

KB Reference

~/vaults/baphled/3. Resources/Knowledge Base/AI Development System/Skills/Session-Knowledge/Note Taking.md

Related skills

• knowledge-base, for managing a large collection of notes.
• memory-keeper, for capturing problem-solution pairs.
• documentation-writing, for turning notes into formal docs.
• obsidian-structure, for organising your vault.