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It's amazing to me how effective it is just to write down these things.

I'm planning to rebuild my deck and I've been thinking and brainstorming for days. But just the act of writing down the step by step order of what is already in my head made me discover all kinds of holes in my plan.

There's a magic there. You can be convinced you know something intimately but if you write it all down I almost guarantee you'll find holes.



You (and others) may enjoy Adam Savage's new book. He was one of the Mythbusters guys. In one of the first chapters he writes about his love of lists and checklists, and the impact it makes on the process of "making." I'm only a few chapters in so far but it's been a fun read so far.

It looks like there is an article talking about this specifically here on Wired if you want to dip your toes in: https://www.wired.com/story/adam-savage-lists-more-lists-pow...


Also there is Dr. Atul Gawande's "The Checklist Manifesto".


Somewhat related but it is amazing how clear things become to me when I draw a diagram about something I have to learn or build. Make visual connections leads to an immediate deeper understanding. It has become second nature for me to start up my diagramming app the moment I don't understand something




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