1. My Dad drives a truck. He has driven the sam brand of truck - an Isuzu - since I was 12. He upgraded the truck ever 3 or 4 years.
He used to drop us to school in the truck. Every day I'd climb up into the truck, one-step, two-step, sit. It wasn't the sort of thing I had to think about; it was just something I did. My muscles just remembered how to climb into Dad's truck - just as they remembered how to walk and how to run.
But then five or six years ago I went home to New Zealand to visit my family. We were taking our new born baby over to show her off. I asked Dad if he'd mind if I went with him to work one day. He said he'd like that and the following day I joined him.
Now here's the weird thing. Even though it''d been 10 years since I'd been in his truck my legs remembered how to climb up into it - one-step, two-step, sit.
Only trouble is: some time during those 10 years Isuzu had added a 3rd step. My legs - on autopilot - didn't know what to do. I was okay for one-step and two-step, but sit got awfully uncomfortable.
Muscle memory.
2. About 10 or 12 years ago I had to do some COBOL coding. I hadn't done it for a half dozen years and I hadn't used the IBM mainframe for just as long ... but the moment I opened up the editor my finger tips knew exactly where to go, including which function-keys to press.
Muscle memory.
3. When I want to do a google search I often alt-tab to gmail, type in the search term, press tab twice and do a "web search" rather than a gmail search. It might sound daft, but it works for me. My fingers remember what to do.
Muscle memory.
4. Today, for some reason, Google has removed the web search button. I am flummoxed. My finger tips don't know what to do.
Muscle memory.
5. A few weeks ago I attended a talk given by a sincere young person ... who thought the whole world should convert to DVORAK keyboards because they were more efficient.
He didn't understand muscle memory.
If you change software for a living ... don't' forget muscle memory.
