In short:

• It helps to see each step (which makes the plan clearer),

• it creates focus,

• it helps explore alternatives

• and it gives you a visual documentation you can share later with a client or in a case study.

And if you don't like to draw, writing by hand can lead to the same results.

Context

As I'm trying to do more of my work on a Remarkable Tablet I'm starting big tasks usually by sketching out my plan before I need to use my computer.

The advantages

• See the whole thing: by sketching out the whole task with all the steps you don't start blindly.

• Creates focus: sketching is a sort of slow warm up in a task that then helps to not let yourself be distracted by all the other things you could do on your computer

• Explore alternatives: by sketching it's fast to imagine other ways of working. So you don't go with the first intuition but select the best way of working.

• It gives you a visual documentation: taking 2 minutes to sketch out what you'll do in the next few hours gives you a visual you can then share later with your client (if you are a professional service designer) or your students (if you are an educator), or with you teacher (if you are a student).

How do others do it

My good friend Vincent does something similar. Before starting big tasks on his computer, he writes by hand about them in a notebook.

Not jumping right into it and favoring "thinking by hand" and not on a device with infinite possibilities and distractions makes the work better and more focused.

How long does it take?

2- 5 minutes are already enough to get the benefits of this approach. Especially if you sketch /draw as you have a lot of meaning in a few lines over a few words, like people often say an image is worth a thousand words.

Backstage of this article

This article was written and illustrated by hand on a refurbished Remarkable II tablet. You can download the original note below as a PDF if you are curious.