In this post Juha-Matti Santala tells us why he prefers to use pen and paper even if he’s a developer. “When it comes to building software or solving problems, writing code is the necessary bit at the end where we tell the computer what to do but way more important than writing that code is figuring out what code to write.
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I might be thinking of initial solutions to new problems (ie. designing how to approach it, drawing UI sketches or flowcharts) or I’m helping myself understand the flow of data and interactions in the current code base to figure out how to fix a bug or add new functionality.
Writing (and sketching) is such a powerful tool for thinking in that. It helps me turn my vague abstract ideas into tangible artefacts through words and drawings. It helps me expose the gaps in my knowledge or understanding because I can’t skip them as easily when writing as I can when just thinking about them.”
Even when we work in a digital space, analogue tools can be very useful because help us to slow down and/or reframe the problem.