Initially, I made the mistake of referencing the Vim’s help docs directly. I assumed this would be effective since it is extremely stable and easy to reference. It turns out, this fails to capture an important interpretive layer. The help docs are clear, but they are so tightly self-referencing that it can be difficult to get the complete picture of any one feature or topic. Creating reference notes for help topics mitigates this problem by allowing every topic to be self-sufficient. The help itself is still the source of truth and primary reference, but the amount of time required to productively review it is reduced.