7 Things You Should Write In Your Dev Log People Notes

You should keep a digital note in your dev log for any person you interact with significantly.

I record every personal interaction I have in my daily notes. I also keep a dedicated digital note for each person, and I link to that note from my daily note. During my weekly reviews, I’ll transfer details of my interactions to my people notes.

Over time I’m building a library of every person I’ve collaborated with and what we worked on together.

Maintaining a digital people library provides these benefits:

You can search for X, and all people related to X will show up.

If you are meeting with a person for the first time in a while, you can review their page to refresh your memory.

If you’re trying to remember who it was that helped you with Y, you’ll be able to find them.

If you’re ever asked to provide feedback about a person, you can be super-specific.

And those are only a few. Convinced?

Then here are 7 things you should write in your people notes:

Their role and any relevant/interesting responsibilities or background information.

Do you have a scheduled 1:1? Keep meeting notes.

What significant interactions (e.g., pairing, troubleshooting, code review) have you had with them?

Have you worked on any significant projects together?

Have they helped you solve a problem?

A running agenda of things you want to discuss with them.

The status of any TODO you’ve said you’ll do for them specifically.