Hey Reader,

Taking notes the old-school way is the BEST way. The trick is to stay organized.

I use Remarkable, a paper tablet, to take all of my notes.

When I’m attending meetings. When I’m brainstorming by myself. When I take notes while reading a book.

I use it to sign documents. To fill in applications. To sketch. To plan. To review.

This one paper tablet helped me get organized and stay more focused on my work.

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Why would you even take notes instead of typing it on your laptop?

When I type my note, what happens is that I quickly forget the text that I just typed. My brain just immediately removes it from its memory, and I know that typing has that kind of effect on us overall.

You put it out so quickly, that you don’t even get a chance to process it in your mind.

Plus, typing is limited to just… typing.

Yes, you can add images to your documents, but it’s harder to move things around and reorganize them I think. Plus, you can’t quickly draw a small diagram or image to add your text unless you have a stylus. No one likes to draw with their mouse.

A big part of the Scrum Master role involves abstract thinking. If you look at some of my notes here, I use a lot of simple icons and drawings when I’m brainstorming. I can create a mindmap like the following.

Brainstorming is really great when you are staring at a piece of "paper" rather than a screen.

I sketched the whole Scrum Master Planner idea using this method.

These are a few reasons why Remarkable is way better than regular tablets like iPad or Samsung.

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1. Paper feel. Writing on paper (or paper-like surfaces) just feels weirdly satisfying.
2. A blank piece of paper takes away distractions by removing pop-ups, notifications, and just the ability to open an extra tab in your browser.
3. It produces no blue light making it easier on your eyes.
4. It still allows you to organize all of your documents in a simple way (simpler than just a paper notebook).

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When I didn’t have my paper tablet, my desk was littered with post-it notes, papers, and printouts… I still love taking notes with a pen, even when I don't have a tool like Remarkable.

And I would usually lose the important notes, because I put them somewhere where I don’t know anymore, or I throw them away by mistake.

In Remarkable it’s easy to organize everything into folders, in the same way as you would do on your laptop with Word documents, for example.

I have my files organized by types of notes, like notes I took while reading books, attending events, following classes, and more.

I don’t only have my handwritten Scrum Master notes here, but also some downloadable materials I can refer to. For example, the Scrum Guide is always here with me 🙂 . Or the Empathy Map exercise, the Cynefin framework, and lots more.

One of the other things that I did is I loaded my Scrum Master Planner in here to serve as a template and I write right on top of it here.

I also have my Scrum.org class materials like a trainer guide that I use for reference while teaching classes.

And I can take notes right on top of these files.

So if I’m teaching a class, for example, and I’m running an exercise and I get an idea of how I can improve it next time, I can immediately note it for myself for later.
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Instead of typing my comments when I'm reviewing something, like a resume, I prefer to leave written notes.

For example, I was reviewing a Definition of Done for one of the teams I worked with, so I just sat down with my Remarkable and wrote down the changes I thought are needed and I just sent the document to the team with my notes.

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Agile team observations and assessments

One of the things I do a lot is note my observations when working with teams as a Scrum Master.

So say I start working with a new team.

I just create a new blank notebook and start without any specific structure at first.

I usually start by attending team meetings and meeting with people across teams to understand what is happening in the company and evaluate their agility level.

I may mark something like “Issue shared: constantly changing priorities” or “No Sprint Reviews”.

For some ideas on how to take notes during meetings in a productive and organized way watch my latest YouTube video about how to use Remarkable!

If you are interested in getting a Remarkable tablet, you can use my referral link for $40 off!

Are you more of a pen-writing or keyboard-typing person?

How do you take and organize your notes?

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