Onramp to Personal Knowledge Management

I found myself deep down some interesting, winding roads in the world of PKM or “Personal Knowledge Management” this last week. If I’ve heard the term used much before I don’t remember it. But interestingly enough it is something I have been fascinated (and working) with for years.

A “fun” series of events led me here. There were a few different projects that had me revisiting the use of Mind Maps again. I really like the idea of Mind Maps, but I have never found an approach that I just go, “Yep. That’s the one.” I want something halfway between MindNode I use on my iPad and Visio I use at work. (And yes, I realize the gap that exists between the two.)

But a trip to The Sweet Setup to skim some of their resources on Mind Maps provided me the article, “[PKM Primer: An Introduction to Personal Knowledge Management for Creatives]”. A Google search later and one week later I’ve “found” a whole new world.

I need the “right” everything bucket. This is a “problem” I’ve been trying to solve for years. And I was sure I was asking the right question. Until I knew that I wasn’t.

DEVONthink is an application that has come up at different times from different sources. There was never a doubt of what is could do. But the disconnect for me was just thinking it was overkill for the problems I was trying to solve. Mainly because it seemed like a storage area rather than a work area, and I needed a place where things I was working on could live and breath and grow. But a “DEVONthink alternatives” search is what kicked all this off. It was through this discovery last week that I realized focused on the wrong “layer”, I guess. I was trying to find a Work Area where I could store everything.

Early on in that searching I stumbled across the idea of a “second brain”. That is a topic or idea I’ve heard used or discussed numerous times. But the specific one that I stumbled upon this past week was an iteration by [Tiago Forte], one in which he discussed his [PARA Method]. (P – Projects, A – Areas, R – Resource, A – Archive). Looking back now I don’t really know what the first domino that fell was, I just know that there were a lot of “ah ha” moments over the last week.

What started as yet another search for yet another “better app” ended up being an onramp to some very exciting things. I am sure some pieces of my workflow(s) will grow and change. Except it won’t be just for the sake of something different, but rather opportunities I’m already excited about in the short time I’ve been learning about some of these new ideas and systems.