[getriver]

Its a trial and error process. Write down as much you can without slowing down too much and then try to read back in couple weeks and see if it makes sense. The longer the gap in betweenm the better since your memory disintegrates and you're left with just the information on the paper.

[wonderzombie]

Its a trial and error process.

I was afraid of that. :) But yes, I see your point. I suppose it's hard to do better than: think of what your future self would need to know, providing both context (to jog your memory when possible), rationale (because that is NOT always obvious), and technical detail (both because that stuff changes and because it's better not to re-derive your previous understanding from scratch whenever possible).