Working on a legacy project can be a chore. Fighting the same old problems over and over again, adding new features takes ages, seems like every time we fix one bug, we uncover three others. Sounds like wishful thinking, but I know it can be better.

Starting to work on an existing application, on a code base that exists since the beginning of the times, can be daunting. Complicated and complex features, new terms, most likely non-existing documentation, or documentation that is out of date. All that can seem too much. One thing that has always helped me is keeping notes of what I discover over time working with a legacy codebase. “Discovery notes” if you will.