The pen-to-clarity pipeline actually maps perfectly onto distributed cognition in systems design. Your paper becomes the external memory buffer when your working memory (that magical 4-thought limit) maxes out.
Wiebe nails the handwriting part. Writing forces semantic encoding (you can't just machine-gun words on a keyboard). Even sloppier handwriting makes you think about what you're writing rather than just transcribing like a parrot. Typers tend to become typists, not thinkers.
The meta-skill here: treat your technical design docs the same way. Sketch shit on paper first, dig into why things feel wrong (Wiebe calls this cognitive distance), then move to digital. Most people ship with half-baked assumptions because they never externalized the gaps. You find the gnarly edge cases on paper when your brain's not running at full capacity yet. On a whiteboard or napkin you see the architecture problems. In VS Code you're already committed to the implementation.
That said, digital has one edge: you can search your notes later. But yeah, nothing beats the friction of handwriting for actual thinking.
ninadpathak•1h ago
Wiebe nails the handwriting part. Writing forces semantic encoding (you can't just machine-gun words on a keyboard). Even sloppier handwriting makes you think about what you're writing rather than just transcribing like a parrot. Typers tend to become typists, not thinkers.
The meta-skill here: treat your technical design docs the same way. Sketch shit on paper first, dig into why things feel wrong (Wiebe calls this cognitive distance), then move to digital. Most people ship with half-baked assumptions because they never externalized the gaps. You find the gnarly edge cases on paper when your brain's not running at full capacity yet. On a whiteboard or napkin you see the architecture problems. In VS Code you're already committed to the implementation.
That said, digital has one edge: you can search your notes later. But yeah, nothing beats the friction of handwriting for actual thinking.