[benmo_atx]

Don’t write about it; use it. The real world application of a new skill fleshes out your understanding in a way that is less vulnerable to your own blind spots, is absorbed at a pre-lingual level (closer to your bare metal), and might actually produce something of value along the way.

[goeiedaggoeie]

using it is the first step. explaining it to others the next, and finally to really understand, writing about it so others understand it really embeds the knowledge.

This is why written cultures in engineering organisations are so powerful, especially if you disseminate the responsibility of writing.

[benmo_atx]

I guess I’d say “using it” should be steps 1, 2, and 3. Explaining it and writing about it are generous ways to share your understanding, but in my mind that’s a different goal.

[goeiedaggoeie]

I have found that using "it" is a lot easier than writing about "it". It is not about being generous it is about deepening the knowledge in your mind and structuring it. different strokes and all that. In my engineering teams I enforce a "Written culture", from the bottom up (so mids and juniors are forced to write), as much as possible.