Personal Knowledge Management is Bullshit ridwan.blog

@ridwan Saving to read later for sure!

@UndamnedOne You gotta read it! He's spot on!

@ridwan

I can’t understand why shows like ‘hoarders’ or whatever their name is exist … but clearly they do … and are successful. As too are stores like ‘the Container Store’ … but It doesn’t cause me to write;

“The current state of “Personal Organization” is mostly bullshit.”

I see PKM as the digital equivalent of the movement to help people sort out their physical lives.

So I take umbrage at his conclusion;

“The current state of “Personal Knowledge Management” is mostly bullshit.”

@ridwan I think this should be titled “Knowledge Graph is Bullshit.” And I agree to some extent. I also think the second brain concept falls onto this category. The whole point is that your brain becomes unreliable, so why did you think replicating a second one would be better?

@frostedechoes @JohnPhilpin @ningkantida I think the title is misleading. I felt the author’s gripe was with these knowledge graphs. However, for some, there’s no need for elaborate PKM systems. With plenty of YouTube videos and hype from bloggers, the essence of knowledge management comes down to the complexity of the knowledge graph rather than data retrieval.

You can’t have a generalised PKM system that addresses individual needs. It all comes to “take what works and leave the rest” approach.

@ridwan this one was very thought provoking (and yet I am not going to get rid of my awesome knowledge graph 🙃)

@frostedechoes yes it would, yes it does me too, and yes, it is.

@jasonekratz I don't think Tiago ever said this. He's targeting people already interested in that and is very clear about one thing: systems are more important than apps and you can use whatever you prefer.

@ridwan He's certainly on to some good points but I have some major disagreements. I have notice some actions that seem more about showing off or tweaking than are actually helpful for people to understand or discover deeper insights (highlighting and then never relooking at those notes. Endless new notes and not revisiting them. Taking notes on irrelevant topics. Linking to anything and everything that might remotely be connected etc). Finally, the belief in the knowledge graph as some magical tool that will suddenly reveal some hidden truth is just rubbish. But having said all those things, I'm not sure the main figures in "PKM" actually preach these kind of things. For example, everyone I know talks about creating hierarchy in your notes, but that you don't have to start with a hierarchy of folders which you're then bound to forever. Plus many focus on making better notes and limiting the topics you take notes on so you aren't just a note hoarder. Certainly PKM (and building a second brain et al) is a marketing term and there are hyped up promises (I am tired of hearing Luhnman's name. Surely there must be others!). I spent a long time not seeing much application of my notes and wondering when I was supposed to suddenly be able to copy and paste a few bits here and there then produce an essay, now I've had some versions of moments like that happen. A final thought, for all the complaint at the marketing hype around PKM, the title is very provocative one.

@jasonekratz I understand the need for PKM if you are a knowledge worker. You will have to keep track & work with multiple inputs. I don't understand the hype around the Zettelkasten method (backlinks) and its applications?

I agree that not everyone will need the PKM system, but a basic notes app should suffice for the most part. All said, my personal gripe is with backlinks. I don't get it or maybe don't see how I will use it.

@ChrisJWilson I agree the title is provocative and maybe that's on purpose.

For many people, a basic notes app should suffice. I agree we may need some guidance in setting up and using it. But, don't need all the hype around backlinks and knowledge graph.

@frostedechoes Whoa, what‽ I've never heard of this with iA before, but that's slightly unnerving with moving over to it myself. Did you ever figure out what happened, and recover your work?

@pimoore @frostedechoes wait whaaaa? I use iA for my day job - how did that happen? Anything I need to do to prevent it??

@frostedechoes @pimoore wild. I have a few different folders marked as favorites right now. I’m using iCloud sync to manage everything.

@hcmarks @frostedechoes Wow, that’s really disconcerting.

@jasonekratz I even wrote posts on PARA :) molodtsov.me/2020/08/p...

PARA is a good organizational system that can be implemented in anything from Roam and Apple Notes to Google Drive and Finder. It's quite universal because it's not so prescriptive. Tiago specifically says the apps you use don't matter as long as you like them.

@ridwan "For many people, a basic notes app should suffice" I absolutely agree with this statement. The main problem I see links addressing or preventing is being bound by a past structure that no longer fits (plus the relevance of notes in multiple fields) and I suppose the PARA system should help address that too with a planned structure that should always be relevant. At the same time, the most common note taking issues aren't really about organizing notes. Side note: I still go back to Evernote to retrieve PDFs and web clippings from years gone by and I used to keep all my lesson plans in there (I still have them all actually) and of course, I mostly navigated by search.

@jasonekratz I’m still trying to figure out the use of backlinks. For my Notes needs, I used mobile predominately, I find Obsidian app a hindrance and puts me off from capturing my fleeting thoughts.

Currently, I’m using Standard Notes which suits my needs. I have still got two months of Obsidian Sync subscription to go. Might decide in September.

@ChrisJWilson Evernote is a great capture tool. I have still got Premium subscription until Jan 2023. If nothing works for me, I would go back to Evernote, the app I have known for more than a decade.