Why I Stopped Taking Notes and Don't Miss It

Prelude

I've been meaning to write short articles for a while, but honestly felt a bit timid. So here goes hopefully the first of many. I'm not sure yet what themes I'll stick to long term, but I care deeply about ways of working, GenAI products, tech, people, and occasional philosophical musings. For now, I'll follow where my thoughts lead and hope to find a like-minded community along the way.

Starting light with a topic that, while simple, has meaningfully shifted how I work. Hope you enjoy and I'd love to hear your take.

"I don't take notes, because if I don't remember it, it wasn't important in the first place"

A Time When I Loved Taking Notes

I didn't always feel this way about note taking. Coming from a traditional tech and business background, I attended schools where dense information was delivered at a rapid pace and I took notes fervently. Back then, note-taking was essential. The material was fixed, almost gospel like, and I needed time afterward to research, reflect, and truly understand it. I doubt I would've fully grasped many of those foundational concepts without the notes I took to guide my deeper learning.

Funny enough - and this won't surprise anyone who went to school with me - I loved my handwriting. Honestly, I think I took extra notes just for the joy of seeing it fill up the page. Oh, how I adored taking notes back then!

But in Time, Note-taking Stopped Working

That habit carried into my work life. I brought a notebook to every meeting, diligently jotting things down. I'd go from meeting to meeting, filling up pages, but rarely looked back at any of them. When I did, the notes often didn't make much sense, sometimes captured dated information, and took longer to read than just doing the actual work.

Still, for a while, I told myself it was just because I was new at work, I just hadn't figured out how to take the right kind of notes yet.

Ah, Then Came the Glorious TODO Lists

Eventually, I shifted to taking just light notes and focused instead on creating endless, truly endless, TODO lists. For a while, it worked. I felt productive, striking tasks off one by one, delivering polished work with care and precision.

But over time, I noticed a pattern: my TODO lists kept growing faster than I could complete them. And often, the beautifully written docs I produced just... sat there. Unopened. I'd even check the accessibility tab to see if the people who requested them had read them, and many hadn't. Zero opens, Zero reads. It stung.

At first, I wondered: Was my writing not useful? Was I too late in delivering? But eventually, I realized the truth, it wasn't that the doc was bad, or that people didn't care. It's just that it didn't add real value. Someone casually mentioned needing it during a conversation, and I jumped to deliver. But they, too, were buried under their own TODOs.

Over time, I've noticed something funny, some of my messier, hastily written docs ended up being shared and read far more than the ones I poured my heart and soul into. It was a humbling reminder: what matters most isn't the polish or personal satisfaction of checking off a task, but whether the work truly adds value. Does it help others? Does it shape thinking or move the organization forward? That's what really counts.

Why Don't We See This Sooner?

A lot of this traces back to performance appraisals and incentive structures. During review cycles, when we ask why we missed a promotion or received a certain rating, the feedback often comes down to a checklist - "you didn't deliver an analysis" or "you missed that deck."

Our review systems often reduce value to visible outputs: a deck, a doc, a task. But the most meaningful work often lives in the white space - influencing a decision, unblocking a teammate, shifting team focus. These contributions don't fit neatly on a checklist, but they're what drive real outcomes.

Where This Realization Takes Me Next

If You Care Deeply, You'll Do What's Needed

Always - just always - care deeply about your product (or your people, or your code, your design, your creative ... ). When you care, you instinctively know what needs to be done and give it your best. That care drives quality, clarity, and impact more than any checklist ever could.

Be Fully Present in Meetings, Don't Worry About Taking Notes

If you ever see me writing something down, it's usually a thought I want to share but haven't found the right moment to jump in. I just don't want to miss making that point.

Meetings are rarely about fixed truths; they're more often brainstorming spaces. What's said whether by a business leader or a lead researcher isn't gospel. Treat meetings as inputs, not instructions. Listen actively, absorb the conversation, then distill and triage the information. The real value comes from what you do with it after, not what you write down in the moment.

Meeting Info Ages Fast, Your Notes Won't Hold Up for Long

In most meetings, people are focused on making their own point they often haven't had the time to process opposing views or rethink their stance. Miscommunication and misinterpretation are common, and if everyone were asked to summarize the same meeting, you'd likely get very different versions. On top of that, organizations are complex, with parallel meetings happening on the same topics. That's why information from meetings becomes outdated quickly.

Just Ask Yourself Two Questions

Does this help move the product forward? Does this help the team succeed?

If your product needs an analysis to align the org, go do it. You won't need a note to remind yourself; you'll feel it in your gut. If a feature truly needs a PRD, write it. But if it doesn't, skip it. There's no point in creating documents just to check a box.

If you ever find yourself wondering whether anyone read your doc, ask directly: Was this useful? Should I have written it? We work in highly intelligent organizations. People can often make sound decisions without your checklist, dated document.

That said, some of the most impactful documents you'll write won't be requested, and that's exactly why they matter. You write them to clarify thinking, unblock teams, or create shared alignment. Not for credit, but because strong systems require connective tissue. We all operate in fast-moving, interdependent environments. The best teams work from a place of mutual respect and shared context, not just top-down requests. That only happens when individuals proactively surface insights, spot gaps, and lift the broader group.

Of course, boundaries are essential, across and especially upward. Managing up can help navigate performance structures, but if that becomes your north star, you risk trading long-term fulfillment for short-term recognition. Sustainable leadership is anchored in contribution, not compliance.

Closing Thoughts

I'm learning to lead with less noise, notes, fewer TODOs, and more clarity. Curious how others approach this. What's the one work ritual you've let go of and never missed?

Oops

I realize this perspective might feel out of touch to those who rely on notes and TODOs to bring structure, not just to their own work, but to their teams as well. If it comes across as tone-deaf, that's not my intent. I know I have my blind spots, and this is just one lens, shaped by my own experiences.