For me, having to produce my journals was a reminder that holding on to my notes means that I might need to give a deposition or testify about them. Engaging with the court system in any way is just not something I care to do if I can avoid it. So I re-examined the value proposition of keeping written notes.

If I was working in an environment where (for example) producing patentable inventions was part of the job, I would keep and retain solid lab notebooks in case they are needed to defend my employer's IP, and would write them every day with that purpose in mind. Likewise in a job where we have to follow ISO-style engineering processes in a regulated environment such as medical device software. That's not at all the same as keeping a journal of development for my own improvement... that's consciously creating an artifact so it can be produced on demand.

If I just keep my garbage notes in garbage files that I delete, I can use them while they are relevant and sweep up after, just as if they were post-it notes.

Thanks for response, makes a lot of sense! I can’t yet relate to the first reasons, but I definitely see the appeal of mentally marking working notes as “garbage”. I find that trying to make working notes an artifact always leads to me getting distracted

Even innocent trials and brainstorming can get you in to hot water. Some P.E.s in the Electrical Engineering field at my old company were known for keeping a good set of wikis, journal, and email lists. They had an internal sort of peer review system between our plants.

An unrelated lawsuit was filed against the company by the state. A set of speculative statements in an email chain made by one EE about hypothetical measurement issues was taken as proof of company "knowledge" about inaccurate reporting.