I wrote about my starting a Knowledge Management System (KMS) 6 months ago. What changed so far?
A Quick Recap
A KMS is a way of collecting and organizing information that makes it easier to retrieve and access at any time. It’s not just notetaking; it’s curating the notes you’ve taken into a personal library to pursue your best self.
My Previous KMS Structure
I mentioned before that I struggled using a single tool to become my KMS, so I used multiple working together:
- Dynalist for my brain dump, general to-dos, waiting-for lists
- Workflowy for my “workspace” in clarifying info, a container for projects and journals
- Google Calendar for scheduled tasks and events
- Obsidian for references
- Notion for trackers
As I used this system of distinct tools, I eventually ran into some issues:
Workflowy became messy as my Projects ballooned into hideous amalgamated tumors. I couldn’t focus on what Project I wanted to do because a lot of information didn’t need to be put into a Project in the first place.
Because of this, I also lost trust in Dynalist because I didn’t know what to do with the information I collected. My brain dump just kept on hoarding uncategorized thoughts.
I also had a lot of extra lists in Dynalist that didn’t feel like they belonged there as the information “aged.” Generally, information becomes stale the longer you don’t review and update it.
My Google Calendars became bloated as I added my planned blog posts as events. When I was delayed in finishing one, I had to manually move the other events further down the line, which was tedious.
I was in constant analysis paralysis, so I focused only on updating my trackers in Notion, as the data was structured. That was the only source I trusted so I could keep it updated.
How did I Resolve my KMS Slump?
We were also moving houses in real life, so I organized my KMS while sorting and putting together our actual things.
So, the day’s first order was to destroy and remake my KMS.
The next iteration is mainly using the same tools but with more clean-cut, optimized roles:
Dynalist
Dynalist is really good at content at a glance, so my brain dump, general to-do backlog (nonscheduled tasks), waiting-for lists, and quick references remain in it.
Quick references are information that I need to check occasionally, such as to-buy lists, recipes, account numbers, etc. I typically open Dynalist to check these when I’m on errands.
Workflowy
In Workflowy, I categorized my projects into two groups — the first I grouped into Active Projects (limited to 8 projects at a time), and the second I grouped into Someday Projects. I then migrated Someday Projects into Obsidian to clean up and tighten my focus.
I also aggressively culled anything that wasn’t related to projects. I also left my journals here unchanged.
Obsidian
My Obsidian repository became stale in my previous iteration because I hardly checked its contents and rarely added new information. Ever since Someday Projects was migrated here, I have been able to review and groom my repository regularly.
Another thing I noticed is that Obsidian is also a good storage for discrete ideas — single-form ideas that don’t have any links to other ideas. Shower thoughts are an example of discrete ideas. You can then use these discrete ideas to generate new connected strings of ideas. Eventually, you can generate a web, which will eventually appear in the graph view.
Google Calendar
I’ve stopped putting tasks as events in my calendar. Events should remain events. I instead use Google Tasks to manage scheduled tasks. The procedure doesn’t change significantly, as you still use the same calendar to see both tasks and events.
What I like about Google Tasks and Google Calendar is the widget integration with phones. You can put your calendar or event/task lists on your main screen.
Notion
Notion has become exciting lately, as they have released many new features, such as charts and a calendar.
Previously, I used Notion only for trackers and treated each blog post content detail as separate individual projects in Workflowy. The lack of structure made the whole thing cumbersome.
Since then, I have created trackers in Notion to manage my blog posting schedule and data. Since blog content and metadata can fit into a proper database, it made things simpler to track. Also, I like that you can add more info to a page entry on each database row, which can act as a container for your draft or outline.
Notion Calendar is also a revelation; any date column in any Notion database can be viewed in calendar format. It integrates with Google Calendar, so you can see both your Notion entries and your Google Calendar entries in a single place. It also has a nice widget for your phone.
Why I Don’t Use a Single App for Everything
My system seems to be a lot of work since I juggle many different apps for different purposes. For the longest time, I’ve tried integrating them all into one app, but in truth, each app has its strengths that cannot be emulated by a single app alone.
The beauty of building your own KMS is that it’s tech-agnostic. If a single app works for you, then go for it. You can even go manual. However, a caveat is that sticking to a single structure can restrict your thinking.
For example, I like to use Obsidian as my reference repository because it’s simple to link different notes and ideas together. I won’t be able to do the same easily in Notion.
If there comes a time when I see that there’s a feature overlap that I can use between my apps, then I’ll likely optimize when that time comes.
I’ve also learned a lot about my apps’ features as I use them. Six months ago, I didn’t know how to use the Relation and Rollup columns in Notion databases. Now, I use them both all the time.
Don’t be afraid to blow up your KMS occasionally and start from scratch. The shape of your KMS can also change in form as you grow wiser while using it.
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