62 lines
2.5 KiB
Markdown
62 lines
2.5 KiB
Markdown
---
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layout: post
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title: "Keep a lab notebook"
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tags:
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- opinion
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---
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I have been "[farming](https://twitter.com/croyfamilyfarms)" for a few years
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now and as the beginning of the 2017 season in northern California approaches,
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I wanted to share some advice to consider, regardless of whether you're a
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gardener or not.
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**Always keep a lab notebook**
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For just about any hobby project I have found a lab notebook can be invaluable.
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What I consider a "lab notebook" is just a simple spiral notebook, with dated
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log entries, on what I have done, observed, etc.
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Currently I have two different hobby lab notebooks floating around, one is my
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"Farm Book" wherein I will log:
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* What has been planted in which sector
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* When I planted seeds, starters, etc
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* When seeds germinated.
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* Notable conditions. A particularly hot week, wet days, etc.
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* When plants begin to fruit, and the quantities.
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Over the seasons, I can refer back to my Farm Book and improve how, where, and
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when I plant. Perhaps more importantly however, I can refer back to the Farm
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Book after I have been "out" for a while, whether traveling or just not paying
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attention, to figure out what projects/tasks I left off with.
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For my [other hobby
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project](https://www.flickr.com/photos/agentdero/29706573822/), my lab notebook
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has been even more valuable. Not only acting as a truck-repair-log but also
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storing data on diagnostics performed at varying intervals. In the case of my
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old truck, without a running log of what experiments and diagnostics I have
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performed, repairing it would be a futile effort.
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I was first introduced to this practice by [Bluthe
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Rocher](https://twitter.com/blithe) in her talk [The Scientific Method of
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Troubleshooting](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9YZXuUjyOs) in the context of
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software development and troubleshooting. Of course you can, and should, use
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something approximating a lab notebook during the course of building software.
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> **Sidenote**: Using Git commits and a `NOTES.adoc` in a repository is a great
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> way to accomplish this. Many times, on my own projects, I will commit an
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> experiment that failed with a commit message explaining what didn't work, and
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> then revert that commit.
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While it's easy to understand the value of additional rigor in software
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development, I urge you to consider keeping a lab notebook for any other hobby
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or side-project of any importance to you.
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Inevitably, you'll find yourself staring at your project on a Saturday morning
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wondering "what the hell was I doing here?"
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Keep a lab notebook, and give yourself the answer.
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