{{<lead>}} Life is complicated. Your notes don't have to be.{{</lead>}}
## Why should you trust me?
I've got [~20 years experience](/resume.pdf) in software engineering and system administration, roles which call for attention to detail, the ability to recall and synthesize information in novel ways, as well as identifying problems and breaking them down into specific actionable goals. Effective note-taking is much the same: [notes are tools](/2024/09/notes-as-tools) that you create to make some part of your life better. Sometimes the problems they solve are foreseen and sometimes they surprise you.
I've got [~20 years experience](/resume.pdf) in software engineering and system administration, roles which call for attention to detail, the ability to recall and synthesize information in novel ways, as well as identifying problems and breaking them down into specific actionable goals. Effective note-taking is much the same: notes are tools that you create to make some part of your life better. Sometimes the problems they solve are foreseen and sometimes they surprise you.
Effective software and effective note-taking systems both combine interactive human input with "stored" data to offer a solution to some problem in a person or organization's life.