How to get into PKM without much spare time?

Knowledge management
1

PKM seems like it would be very fun, but all the methods seem very high-maintenance. You need to constantly go over the notes you write, refactor them, make sure metadata is good, add links + tags, etc. It’s a lot of work. My semester of university was absolutely loaded, and I just couldn’t make time for the maintenance part. When I did try, I would fall behind on my assignments or lectures. So, I just had these giant plain markdown files that I never had the chance to reorganize.

Does anyone know any PKM methods or organization schemes that are easy to maintain? If not, what do you do instead?

2

It’s only complex if you make it complex. You can take pieces of different PKM systems and merge together something simple that works. People love complexity, and people that love complexity the most are usually the people who aren’t very productive and tend to focus on tinkering instead of actually doing something. Don’t fall into that trap.

Over the years, this is what I’ve done. It’s a very simple system with a maximum of three levels of folders and two different aspects of tagging. It requires almost no maintenance. The folder structure is static, (or “do once”). The tagging structure is also simple, there are two types of tags: YAML tags which describe a higher categorization, and in-line tags which are used in different sections of a document for more specificity. Tags can be renamed over time to fine-tune it, if desired. There are plugins to do this.

Folders allow me to drill down into areas where I keep specific types of content, and tags allow me to search my vault for subjects that span different areas.

Below is the mermaid diagram from my notes. You can copy and paste it in any .md file in your vault and view it properly, since it looks like it won’t render here.

```mermaid
---
config:
    theme: base
    themeVariables:
        primaryColor: '#10306030'
        primaryTextColor: '#000000f0'
        secondaryColor: '#10306030'
        secondaryTextColor: '#000000f0'
        teriaryColor: '#10306030'
        tertiaryTextColor: '#000000f0'
        lineColor: '#000000f0'
        nodeBorder: '#10306080'
---
flowchart TD
subgraph **Obsidian Folders**
    A["`**Category**
        _________________________
        Type: Top-Level Folder
        Structure Johnny Decimal
        Example: 10 Interests`"]
    B["`**Sub-Category-1st**
        _________________________
        Type: Second-Level Folder
        Structure: Johnny Decimal
        Example: 11 Lifestyle`"]
    C["`**Sub-Category-2nd**
        _________________________
        Type: Third-Level Folder
        Structure: Johnny Decimal
        Example: 11.01 Travel`"]
end
subgraph **In Document Tagging**
    D["`**YAML Tags**
        _________________________
        Type: Frontmatter Tag
        Structure: Hashtag
        Example: #camping`"]
    E["`**Inline Tags**
        _________________________
        Type: Content Tag
        Structure: Hashtag
        Example: #UTcampgrounds`"]
end
A --> B
B --> C
C --> D
D --> E
style A fill: #60103030
style D fill: #30601030
style E fill: #30601030

BTW, I use dark mode. In light mode the diagram looks awful…probably. I have no interest in checking however because I hate light mode with a passion.

3

You’re putting way too much effort into it. Most of the people preaching all these different things you “have” to do for “good” PKM are selling snake oil or organizing for the sake of organizing. It’s a new-age religion to them and it holds just as much water.

The simplest way to handle PKM is to build it over time, and do so naturally. That way, it’s something you know, that you recognize, and is personalized for you. That’s the most important part: it should be yours, not Johnny Come-lately from some infomercial on YouTube.

Tags are the easiest way to start, alongside links. Anything beyond this pushes into unnecessary, and often nonsensical, snake oil.

A quick-and-easy start is to limit your properties to two tags, one for the theme of the note and the second for the sub-theme. For example, #gaming and #rpg, or #literature and #mystery, or #photography and #nature.

If you find a unique or relevant word in your note, you can turn it into an inline tag, but that’s not necessary. This will start creating your network naturally and takes little extra effort.

Once you’re comfortable with tagging, if you know of a related note or expect you’ll create one eventually, you can link a relevant word to the related note, or even a non-existent note if you plan to do it later. Instead of going to that note to add a link to the new note, you can enable Backlinks (a core plugin) and the link back will be created naturally.

Don’t worry about metadata. Don’t worry about refactoring. Don’t go back over everything constantly to add links or tags or widgets or gadgets. Start small and easy, build your own process, and turn a deaf ear to the peddlers pushing “The Best PKM Methodologies” or “The ONLY Way to organize your notes” or whatever else. Give them the same attention you would a hustler on a street corner, because that’s all they are.

And yes, that includes me. They’re your notes. Do what feels natural with them. I’m just offering my take on PKM, just like everyone else.

If you absolutely, positively must go beyond tags and links, wait until handling a couple tags and the occasional relevant link is second nature.

2 Likes
4

This is what I suggest as a starting point: Simple approach to organizing notes.

If your notes are for school, tho, I usually suggest a folder for each class and a note for each source (lecture, book, article, etc.). The school provides structure, so you may as well use it. (If there’s info from your classes that you want to save generally, you can copy it out into other notes later.)