i think my brain doesnt keep track of specific rules but concepts which it can then use to figure out what the details of the rule are because i understand the underlying strategyintent  my job has a lot of specific obscure policy stuff one half is in this program where its all very unified conceptually consistent and you look at the situation holistically  the other half uses broken software so its just wall to wall workarounds it has way less situational deviations to keep track of than the other program it should be the easier one but because theres no coherency it means i need to keep track of each workaround and i just cant do it so im constantly having to double check cause im not able to figure it out conceptually the only workarounds that i can ever remember are the ones where i remember why its that way specifically because ei remember the why not the how so i remember oh the dates always get messed up and then the client has to deal with xyz hmmm what was the workaround to the date issue oh yeah you entire it as 2 days before the real date so that i fully closes before the program tries to open a 2nd file that way theres no risk of them getting double indexed  if you just tell me btw never enter the real date when doing this one case action thing always enter it as 2 days previous thats a pretty obscure and detailed fact that you expect me to organically remember with nothing to prompt me to remember it other than the fact the entry form asks me to enter a date which like yeah no shit they all do my brain doesnt see that as a meaningful cue