In earlier posts, I discussed the discipline of taking technical notes, and compared Evernote and Joplin as tools for doing so. This follow up focuses on where a note taking application fits once you already have version control, documentation, and a working environment in place.
System Boundaries and Working Information
In practice, different tools suit different kinds of truth. Deployment configurations belong in Git, with GitHub as a remote repository. Environment documentation belongs in a structured reference system such as DokuWiki.
Between those layers sits a category of working knowledge that emerges during implementation and investigation. It is captured while you are still forming a model of the system, testing assumptions, and narrowing a fault domain. It is often worth recording early, but it is not yet ready to become authoritative documentation or committed configuration. Recording it directly in either tends to create a permanent record of whatever you happened to believe at the time.
Capture Layer
The notes I keep in Joplin sit in that middle layer. They are intended primarily as field references or as ephemeral working notes that may later be deleted or formalised into a more permanent reference environment.
This might include an outline of the approach taken when configuring an unfamiliar service, a brief validation sequence used during deployment, or reference steps followed during initial troubleshooting of an unexpected system behaviour.
Joplin also serves as a portable reference layer. I use it to maintain lists of online resources, documents, and system summaries that I may need access to while away from my usual environment. This can include links to vendor manuals, configuration guides, or brief reference notes that allow relevant information to be located quickly during implementation or investigation.
Some of this material may overlap with information stored in structured documentation platforms, but the role is different. These notes function more as field references than as environment documentation. It also helps to be deliberate about what does not belong there, particularly credentials or other sensitive artefacts.
Formalisation
In this way, Joplin functions as a capture layer between live investigation and permanent operational records. Notes taken during configuration or testing can later be reviewed and, where appropriate, promoted into version controlled deployment files or structured documentation, or removed once their immediate purpose has been served.
Joplin’s availability on mobile devices also makes it possible to capture and retrieve these notes as work progresses. Synchronisation via a self hosted Joplin Server instance, deployed in a containerised environment, keeps this process level information available across devices without overlapping with the roles already filled by Git for executable configuration or documentation platforms for structured process reference.
Outcome
This allows experimentation, investigation, and refinement to occur without introducing unverified material into the authoritative records that ultimately describe how systems are deployed or maintained. In practice, it provides a place for understanding to be shaped before it is committed to the systems that describe how things are meant to work.