Writing is a practice; Documentation a product

Lately I've been trying to contribute to open source and I've realized that most communication that I have are written communication. I have to write down my thought process, my implementation detail, test cases, and to some extent even pseudo code as comments on a pull request before submiting a decent change. 

This is contrary to what I am used to when working in a corporate environment. I am familiar with meetings scheduled with my mentor/senior/lead/peers/team where we go through stuff verbally & through screenshare. It's quick and easy(just like fast food but not necessarily healthy). All that communication is lost in the ether once we click on 'End Call'. No trace remains of all that useful knowledge that was communicated over the call.

My writings aren't great I am aware. Yet these ill-formed bits of written communication help me tremendously to construct my thoughts better. Also, if I am neck deep into a change I still have access to the trail of communication that lead me to where I am. I can be reminded of the decision parameters if I ever feel like I've lost a sense of direction.  


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