My Life in (Lab) Books

Early in my career I worked for a guy who changed everything, including me.? Even though his company owned two Learjets and a Bell 212 helicopter, Terry Matthews made a point of showing me his Lab Book the first time we met.

Working in one of his first companies, Mitel Corporation was about the best job a young spark fresh out of college could have, and about the best thing I learned from him was about Lab Books.

I was barely 24 and had somehow convinced Mitel to hire me as a lab rat, prototyping circuits, writing software, and filling gaps doing what, 40 years later, l still love best -- inventing solutions to problems that nobody much knows exist.

Terry spotted me passing in the hallway of Mitel's headquarters.? He had an eagle eye, 3,000 employees, and if someone new showed up in his orbit, he made it his business to know why.

“Who are you?” asked Sir Terry Matthews OC OBE FREng FIET? He was not a man to mince words.

“I’m Dan.? I work for Pat.”

“Oh.? Well then, if you work for Pat, get your Lab Book and meet me in my office.”??

Pat Beirne was Mitel’s ace young designer, and remains my model of awesome in engineering to this day. This whole thing was otherworldly; I did not dawdle.

Terry welcomed me into his office with gentle humility.? He did not dawdle either. He asked a few questions and handed me a circuit board, and determined my entire future based on whether I knew the color code of a “trick" 0.01 ohm resistor.? Nobody does – the answer was not the point.

Then he said, “Let me see your Lab Book.”

Mitel had a sizable patent portfolio, and they had a healthy Lab Book Culture instilled right from the top.? Terry glanced through my Lab Book, passed judgment in silence, and then slowly and with near biblical relevance, he handed me his Lab Book.

“Take a look at MY Lab Book.”

Terry Matthews’ Lab Book was a work of engineering art. ? He had the deft hand of a pixie, and made his sketches and notes with deliberate attention.? Each page was annotated with drafting-lettered precision.? This was a man who set a high bar in everything he did, and it started with his Lab Book every day.

“When you sketch, make your lines straight.? Date your pages, provide references to other pages.? Use it for all your notes.”

For Terry Matthews, his Lab Book was not just a testament to his amazing success, I believe it was a key element in developing myriad intellectual properties and managing their logistical lifetimes.? Terry has since started over 100 successful companies, and it would not shock me to know that he is still giving young sprites coming up that same talking-to.

It certainly made a lasting impression on me, and I’ve spent my career, and as it turns out, my life scribbling in my Lab Book ever since.? Here’s my surviving tattered collection:?

For years I used 8.5 x 11" spiral bound notebooks. Lately I've taken to using 5 x 7" hard bound notebooks (like the black and red ones at the top of the stack). You can insert a folded 8.5 x 11” sheet, and they're right-sized to grab and go. ??I love the Moleskine line and have spent hours at their Barnes & Noble collection.

The most important feature about your Lab Book is accessibility, which means you need to have it within arm's reach at all times. It seems that you can never really catch up taking notes later, so it's best to catch-as-catch-can.

I can’t list the number of times I’ve awoken, solution-in-brain, and reached for my Lab Book to jot.? It’s like a comfy old blanket for the brain, and once the ethereal ideas are recorded, sleep comes easily – you can rest assured with your Lab Book at the ready.

How-To Lab Book

How you use your Lab book is up to you, everyone has their system, and I have developed my own cadence that works well for me. I was fortunate to have an influential leader to guide me, so I thought I would share my best tips for keeping handwritten notes:

• Dedicate some fixed time at the start or the end of your day (or both) re-working your Lab Book. ?Be fierce about this; for me this is the key to optimum action management.
• During that review period, pour back over your notes from the previous day(s).??Cross off items done, circle and highlight things to bring forward.? If they are going on tomorrow’s list, start a new page. If they are actions on open items with with existing spots or pages, add to them.
• Use your Lab Book to make notes in meetings and on the phone. No more yellow sticky notes to lose, just get it down chronologically ASAP.
• Start a new page for a new list,? Make a tidy Title Block, date your pages, and leave white space for subsequent details.? You may go back to this again and again, sometimes over many years.? Draw blocks around and highlight the good stuff; be bold!???
• If you run out of room on a page (and you will) start a new blank one. If you are ahead in your book, draw an arrow back to the original page (Continued:--->). ?
• I spend quite a bit of time writing and rewriting lists and design elements, and pulling them together, bringing them forward, each time more refined, always seeking perfection accordingly.? (Some call this OCD-pedantic, I call it successful…) Doing this, you’ll never struggle to remember or find things. You know they're there because you wrote them down, highlighted and revised them, letting you focus on infinitely more productive matters. (People sometimes think I have an eidetic memory, but the truth is I just doodle a lot in my lab book.)
• When I'm really in my groove I pretty much live in a design-solution continuum, and I keep and develop all manner of information in my Lab Book.? I create new pages as the needs arise, for new features or elements I’m working on, and recycle, bring them forward, and refine as I go.? I don’t worry about tidy (let’s face it, we’ll never be Terry Matthews...), and I don’t stress over completeness in the moment, I just get it down, and refine later over time, often in multiple passes.
• I work in pen; I love the permanence, and I like drawing and redrawing designs and information to best suit my fancy, over the course of a project.? I sometimes struggle with visualizing mechanicals, but with this method I can doodle my way to success. When I sit down at a computer to draft something formally, I usually know exactly where I'm going.?
• Lately I’ve been digging my retro Bic 4-color pen.? It really helps to offset important stuff, and who among us doesn’t enjoy the skillful use of color to illustrate one’s mind?
• I write key info like phone numbers (pre-Smartphone) at the back of the book for quick reference.? I also used to tape business cards in, but who does phone numbers or cards anymore?? One must be adroit, and my Lab Books prevail across the decades; I can find a phone number from the 90’s faster than Google. Conversely, I have zero floppy disks.
• Important safety tip: Never write your passwords in your Lab Book.? Especially in the back, where your son can see them, and…let’s just say that this is a tested security concern and leave it at that.
• More important safety tip: Put your contact info and Reward If Found on the inside cover; I left one behind, and it found me before I got home.
• PRO TIP: If you need to make hand sketches quickly, use 11”x17” paper, sketch and print large-ish, and then photocopy reduce it to 8.5”x11” size.? It will look like you too have the drawing hand of a pixie, and your peers will marvel at your talents; keep copies in your Lab Book.

For me, as I manage my Lab Book (and my life within it), I find myself converging on solutions over time. In my business of systems integration there just never is any one problem or solution anyhow, and the inherent parallelism of this method works well for me. Life, and Lab Books, need not be rigidly structured. Take advantage of your new-found freedom. And your Lab Book!

Conclusion

Keeping handwritten notes in a Lab Book reinforces the information-gathering and synthesis experience uniquely, facilitating amazing powers of organization and recall.? You will be able to remember and find references to your colleagues, projects, businesses, experiences, and indeed everything through these handwritten ad hoc but regularly curated notes.?

With only a few minutes a day you too can enjoy your Life in Lab Books.