I'm a product manager not an engineer...but i manage digital products, so i hope that is close enough.
I use text files employing simple markdown within them. I use one text file per project/product...however i'm thinking of going back to a single monolithic text file regardless of project/product...since it might make grokking things a little easier (good ol' CTRL F is fine)...also, sometimes some efforts span more than a single product...so i get slightly paralyzed trying to think if this effort belongs in text file for product A or B, etc. So a single file would resolve that. In any case, the text file approach makes selection of tools much easier (and with lots more choice). For work/dayjob, i use NotePad++ (99.9% of my jobs simply issue me a Windows machine with no choice in the matter), and for personal matters, since i use linux, i use Geany for working with the text files (though have been playing with Kate/KWrite). Over the last 6 months, i moved away from dropbox to NextCloud to synch all the text files. Here again, by using simple text files, i have flexibility for the authoring tools as well as synching tools. As far as referencing/looking back at my notes, yes i do and quite often (hence why i think going back to a single big text file might ease my searching a tad). Also, i have very slightly started to take work notes on paper when in person - a little for diplomacy but also because when i go back to my machine to type them into my text files, i find that it helps with recall/memorization.
I use text files employing simple markdown within them. I use one text file per project/product...however i'm thinking of going back to a single monolithic text file regardless of project/product...since it might make grokking things a little easier (good ol' CTRL F is fine)...also, sometimes some efforts span more than a single product...so i get slightly paralyzed trying to think if this effort belongs in text file for product A or B, etc. So a single file would resolve that. In any case, the text file approach makes selection of tools much easier (and with lots more choice). For work/dayjob, i use NotePad++ (99.9% of my jobs simply issue me a Windows machine with no choice in the matter), and for personal matters, since i use linux, i use Geany for working with the text files (though have been playing with Kate/KWrite). Over the last 6 months, i moved away from dropbox to NextCloud to synch all the text files. Here again, by using simple text files, i have flexibility for the authoring tools as well as synching tools. As far as referencing/looking back at my notes, yes i do and quite often (hence why i think going back to a single big text file might ease my searching a tad). Also, i have very slightly started to take work notes on paper when in person - a little for diplomacy but also because when i go back to my machine to type them into my text files, i find that it helps with recall/memorization.