#Personal Knowledge Management (PKM)

[gredi-bird]

the best thing about using a zettelkasten system for organization is you get to play with your funny little cards instead of actually facing your problems

[thliterary]

This week we're back to looking at ObsidianMD - in particular plugins!

[moonlightvigil8]

PKM

Personal knowledge management (PKM) is the idea that you should manage your knowledge externally with a tool. But be careful, the biggest problem with PKM is when you sharpen your metaphorical axe instead of chopping down trees, ending up the day with doing no work and grinding down your axes to nothing. Realistically, this would mean fiddling with your tools instead of using them to do the things you want to do.

Your system should serve you, not you serving it.

Strands

There are 4 approaches to organizing your PKM system, each with strengths and weaknesses.

1. Idea First

2. Topic First

3. Action First

4. Time First

Idea First

This would be the idea of atomic notes, each note has an idea and you organize them by connections between those ideas.

Topic First

Something similar to how you would take notes in school, you start with the notes known as a map of content and create notes around that.

Action First

You put the information in the place where it is most useful, whether it is in something you need to finish or where you know you will need it in the future. note that, when it doesn't matter where you put the note, this becomes less useful overtime.

Time First

You want to organize your information chronologically, this means having a daily note and putting the information on that day and it will automatically be moved to a note where it is most useful, you don't have to think about where to put the information since it is always in the daily note.

PARDEC

PARDEC is my alternative to the LATCH method for organization, it's an acronym that stands for:

- Process

- Alphanumeric

- Relationship

- Date

- Environment

- Category

These would be all the ways to find information that I know.

Process

This would be what stage of production something is in. A book could be being written, edited or revised for example.

Alphanumeric

This is a mix between alphabetical and numeric. Using this you can create a hierarchy similar to folders without their limitations.

Relationship

How this information relates to other information. There are two types of relationships, simple and complex. Simple relationships are "this relevant information is here", while complex relationships depend more on context to make sense.

Date

Anything related to time. The best format is year-month-day so it's easier to search because you can increase the precision as you add more information.

Environment

Environment in the geospatial sense. So cities, coffee shops, etc. Anything related to a place.

Category

Organize information based on shared characteristics.

Tools

Folders

Folders are the classic way to organize a computer, but they are actually a trap. Folders are a physical limitation of paper and there is no paper here.

In general, use folders when you want to separate things because you can only have a note on a single folder.

Tags

Tags unite, because a note can have multiple tags so a tag can contain a variety of notes.

If you can use hierarchical tags, you can create a folder hierarchy without the folder limitation.

Now I'll go over how I use tags:

Set

Set tags are the largest group of tags that work for any type of grouping you want to have with a tag.

'#set/PKM', '#set/school' for example.

If you want you can use the PARA method as tags, so you don't have to move files around, which kinda makes the Resources and Archive useless, but whatever.

ON

This tag is used to describe the general content of a note, something superficial and present in other notes to link them together.

'#on/electronics', '#on/physics' for example.

That's how Odysseas uses his tags and indexes, even tho he uses notes as tags.

Type

Describes the type of note, very explanatory.

'#type/daily-note', '#type/PDF' for example.

You can use Metadata to do this if you want to use fewer tags.

Metadata

The metadata of something should be in the same file you are working on.

To create metadata in Obsidian you can add properties with a command or put '---' in the first line of the file, or you can do it in the body of the file with the following format '[Property::Value]'.

Here you can put the Environment, Date and Process information.

Links

Links are the most powerful, flexible and therefore complex tool of all that I will talk about here.

The format of a link is to put two pairs of square brackets ([[]]) around the name of the note you want to link to. This is how you represent simple and complex relationships explained above.

If it is not obvious why a link is made you should always explain why so that when you return to the note you will not be left wondering what you meant by it. To get this further we can use '[Semantic::[[Links]]]', AKA put a link as a value of a property, then you can put briefly how these two notes relate to each other.

If you think about it, there's not much difference between a link or a tag, so the main difference in using a note with a link instead of a tag is that with the note, you can give context as to why the relationship makes sense in that context, and with the tag you can make hierarchy.

Maps of Content

Maps of Content, or MOCs, have 2 main functions, orient ourselves in or spaces of our PKM, and think about how this information and ideas relate to each other.

For the first function, a automated list of ideas work, but for the second one, the inconvenience of thinking and relating ideas is the point.

Maps are user interface, so considering what is not brought in is just as important as what gets in.

There is two ways of making a MOC, top-down or bottom-up.

Top-down means that you pick your topic of the MOC and then build the notes around it.

Bottom-up means you want to make a MOC using already existing notes and make them more manageable and useful.

Alphanumeric Identifier

To use the alphanumeric identifier, for example, you have a parent note with the ID 100 and children like 101.1 and 101.2, these notes can have child notes like 101.1a1 and 101.2b1. Be careful with this system because if you put a "10" or "aa" you might break the order because numbers take precedence over letters, so the note 10.10a would be above the note 10.9a even though the note was made first. This doesn't happen in Obsidian.

Zettelkasten or a Digital Garden

The Zettelkasten system is an information organization system focused on creating new ideas by putting together other ideas.

To do this we will use two types of notes, literature notes and permanent notes. Literature notes are your thoughts about a piece of media. Anything you think is right, wrong or interesting. Permanent notes are loose ideas that are free to connect. The value of an idea comes from how it relates to other ideas.

That's why we make one note per idea, to allow it to have as many connections as possible and to be able to reuse the same idea in as many places as possible. And that's why some people are against changing permanent notes, because changing the note would change its relationship with related notes.

In Nikolas Luhman's zettelkasten he used alphanumeric identifiers, but instead of using them hierarchically, he used them mainly as unique identifiers, this means that most of the notes were not in the "right" place, but in a place that allowed them to have some kind of relationship with the note above, because with paper, putting the note in the wrong place would mean not being able to find it when you wanted to.

[zen-blitz]

💡 Overwhelmed by info overload? Turn saved notes into actionable insights! Build a PKM system & reclaim your focus. Learn how here!

(via Stop Scrolling! : Mastering Intentional Information Consumption)

[2-tderrol]

The Ripple Effect of Choosing Quality

In a world increasingly driven by speed and convenience, the pursuit of quality can sometimes feel like a lost art. However, as I delve into the concepts explored in my book, Quality is a Choice!, it becomes clear that prioritizing quality in every aspect of our lives—be it products, services, or personal endeavors—is not just beneficial, but essential for long-term success and fulfillment. The…

[leftcollectionreview]

Introduction

So Tumblr is new to me. TBH posting online is new to me. But I'm trying to be more proactive about exploring and synthesizing my own thoughts, so I'm going to try and make a habit of it. I can do a more thorough introduction another time, but I want to identify two topics that are going to be important to me.

Being transgender and living in a society that is awful because of it. Particularly having that identity politically weaponized and used as a cudgel against me and others.

Political organizing, particularly field and union organizing. There's quite a bit of content on here about union organizing (which we love) but not very much about the reality of politically organizing strangers.

Personal Knowledge Management. I'm trying to use this for accountability and learning in public. There seems to be a small but active PKM community on Tumblr, so I'm excited to see what non-mainstream, non-productivity PKM takes I find.

This middle one is particularly interesting to me. Yes, going outside sucks. Talking to strangers sucks even more. Talking with strangers who disagree with us sucks the most. But it's also the only way that we're going to see the political change that we want to see. Many people don't know a single person that has a different political affiliation (or don't know that person does). We need to get out there and talk with folks if we ever want that to change.

And whoever came up with the rule to never talk about religion and politics was obviously full of shit and privilege. Talk about politics all the time. Make people uncomfortable with the reality of their choices. Make good trouble.

[ekbal2011-blog]

Batch Working: The Secret Weapon of Productive People

Batch working means grouping similar tasks and doing them in dedicated blocks. It cuts down on task-switching and boosts flow.

Examples:

Write all emails for the week in one session

Record all videos on one day

Handle admin work in one afternoon

It’s like cooking in bulk—you save energy and reduce mental clutter.

🟢 How to Create a Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) System That Actually Works

When you batch your tasks, you reclaim time and mental energy. Try it for one week—you’ll notice the shift.

[smartsolvetips]

How to Create a Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) System That Actually Works

In a world drowning in information, the ability to manage knowledge has become a competitive advantage. Whether you’re a student, entrepreneur, or knowledge worker, building a solid Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) system can transform how you learn, think, and make decisions. What is a Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) System? A PKM system is a method for collecting, organizing, and…

[literaturereviewhelp]

In the last semester, we learned about Personal Knowledge Management (PKM), Knowledge Management (KM), their definitions, characteristics of knowledge management, and the way effective management can positively contribute towards the success of an organization. By definition, knowledge management refers to the process of creating, capturing, sharing, and efficiently making use of knowledge, where most applicable to improve performance and to learn in an organization. In other words, one can define knowledge management as a concept used by organizations to comprehensively and consciously gather, organize, share, and analyze the available knowledge in terms of documents, resources, and skills of employees (Nonaka & Takeuchi 2004, P. 34). After completion of the semester, the aim of this assignment is to write a reflective report that consolidates all my learning and personal knowledge management experiences over the semester. Knowledge management enhances success in organizations in several ways. Throughout the semester, I came across a range of information about knowledge management and learned that knowledge management comprises of an array of practices and strategies that most organizations use to create, identify, share, and enhance adoption of experiences as well as insights (Awad & Ghaziri 2007, P. 43). These experiences and insights comprise of knowledge, which is personified in people or entrenched in organizations as either practices or processes. Additionally, for an organization to become successful, it is a must for it to actively the available knowledge in order to enable it promote its decision-making strategy and capabilities (Wallace 2007, P. 43). Moreover, knowledge management builds learning organizations through making routines for learning, stimulates organizations’ cultural change as well as innovation. Throughout the semester, I came to understand that for those organizations that put knowledge management systems in place, they facilitate better and have informed decision-making through sharing the most effective practices, increasing progress, discussing failures and success, and experiences (Nonaka & Takeuchi 2004, P. 37). Moreover, knowledge management creates a culture whereby every individual can assess him or herself, his or her unit, their organizations thus looking for the necessary ways of improvement Read the full article

[cloudmage]

30 Informative Websites for 2025: Boost Your PKMS

Following on from my recent post on PKMS (Personal Knowledge Management System) and (20 Informative Podcasts for 2025: Boost Your PKMS) I am next listing 30 sites that are in my Feedly feed. There are a lot more that I use and this is a snapshot of a few

Following on from my recent post on PKMS (Personal Knowledge Management System) and (20 Informative Podcasts for 2025: Boost Your PKMS) I am next listing 30 sites that are in my Feedly feed. There are a lot more that I use and this is a snapshot of a few of them. Feedly provides an aggregation tool that collects stories from various blogs and websites that I find useful for research and…

[merrybond]

Is SuperNotes Super for Authors?

I can hardly believe I am trying out yet another system for keeping track of my characters and my plot, and yet��� I recently heard of a relatively newcomer to the PKMS scene (that’s Personal Knowledge Management Systems, just to remind you). The developers were very sneaky and posted on a reddit group I’m in asking people to comment on the new on-boarding video he’d created. Of course, I watched…

[tellio]

Write. Write with Holy Detail. Write with Good Tools.

Part of my PKM (personal knowledge management) system is a wide range of subscriptions on You Tube including a recent podcast on Jet Pens sharing how to “keep on” with journaling.  I have included a summary below as well as the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wDt5wluRTM%5B/embedyt%5D Here is an AI summary if too long:  And, finally, here is a doodle to rule them all:   So.  Journaling…

[p3ob7o]

Content Collection & Curation

TTL 9 Content Collection & Curation Your Second Brain is only as good as the content you put inside.

TTL 9 Your Second Brain is only as good as the content you put inside. 👋 Good Morfternight, this is Paolo Belcastro, with the ninth issue of TTL: Tools & Thoughts for Leaders. Today, we’re diving into one of the most crucial aspects of Personal Knowledge Management (PKM): how to collect and centralize your knowledge effectively. I’ll use Reflect.app to show you how to set up your personal…

[insightsciences]

How I use Microsoft 365 for a personal knowledge management (PKM) system

Capture, organize, and leverage your knowledge efficiently using these Microsoft 365 apps Source: How I use Microsoft 365 for a personal knowledge management (PKM) system

[2-tderrol]

The Essential Skill of Adaptability in a Changing World

In today’s environment, the ability to adapt is not just a nice-to-have skill—it’s an essential one. Technology advances rapidly. Work landscapes are constantly evolving. Unexpected global events occur frequently. As a result, adaptability has become the cornerstone of success in both personal and professional life. Individuals thrive when they embrace change. They succeed by navigating sudden…

[eccentricconnoissure]

Unleashing the Power of My SecondBrain: A Journey of Digital Mastery

Embarking on the exciting journey of creating my #SecondBrain has been nothing short of a transformative experience. As I finalize the intricate details of this digital sanctuary, I can't help but marvel at the potential it holds to revolutionize the way I organize, store, and retrieve information.

Crafting my #SecondBrain has been a meticulous and personalized endeavor. It involves curating an amalgamation of various tools and methodologies has been instrumental in shaping a digital ecosystem tailored to my needs. Among the myriad of strategies, the integration of Getting Things Done (GTD) principles through the TICKTICK app, the use of Org-Roam for Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) on my desktop, Logseq with Org-Mode on my Android phone, and the recent adoption of time blocking techniques have added layers of efficiency and organization to my digital journey.