I cannot stress enough how much you can reduce "how many things you need to hold in short term memory to do your job" by just keeping a notebook (or file, or wiki, or whatever works for you) and writing things down.

So, don’t derive it from first principles each time?

Therein lies the wisdom

Just the first time

I've been writing everything down in a notes app recently and I love it. If I think of a good Christmas gift for my brother in July, it goes in the app. If someone recommends an interesting-sounding book, it goes in the app. If an app at work has a specific or convoluted build process, it goes in the app.

As someone who spent his entire childhood getting in trouble for forgetting things, it's been life-changing. Computers remember things so much better than my dumb brain.

What app do you use?

It is amazing to me how many people do not write things down. It's like everybody wants to turn every job into a contest to see who can spin the most plates in their head.

Your engineering notebook is a gift to future you.