I've been at this game professionally for over 30 years and still struggle to switch context, and now the memory isn't as sharp as it once was. I can have seve

I've been at this game professionally for over 30 years and still struggle to switch context, and now the memory isn't as sharp as it once was. I can have several projects on the go at one time, and need to provide technical support to various customers "on-demand". My coping strategies are: I context switch as little as possible and try to spend at least a solid day on each project. Of course the support calls scupper this when they come in. I've persuaded my boss to either email, or save up all his attention-breaking calls into a single one each day. I have a text file for each project into which I log what I'm doing and why. You probably know what it's like to be several levels down your stack, "in the zone", when a call comes in. By adding just a line or two, indented, I can quickly recover where I was. eg: Starting to build routine XYZ Need to add new table ABC to database User will need maintenance for that. ToDo. Ask Joe to add it to testing. done. Table added. Create AA class Need a new SQL view for that Created view If this gets more complex in future, consider changing to an SP. Added to deployment file Would this class be better split? That would make for better design, but time is limited now Not convinced UserView belongs in here... ... RING... RING... aggghhhh... mental construct collapses in a heap. I also add comments in there about ideas, changes, problems. If I don't get to pick the project back up for a week or two, I can read the last few dozen lines and get back to where I was. It's also invaluable for recalling why something was done or not, and what else was considered. Using a simple text file allows a bunch of projects to be "grepped" for specific key words very quickly.