Re: org-mode for knowledge management

[Eric Abrahamsen <eric@ericabrahamsen.net>]

John Hendy <jw.hendy@gmail.com> writes:

> On Fri, Oct 10, 2014 at 10:46 AM, Daniel Clemente <n142857@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> >
>>> > I've been using org-mode for a variety of purposes for a few years. I find
>>> > that it suffers from the same problem that other such tools do. The
>>> > problem is me. I can't remember week to week how I may have classified
>>> > some scrap of information. Did I drop it into notes/someproduct.org or was
>>> > it procedures/someprocess.org?
>>
>> 1. Every information should have a single location, not two. Mix sections fast
>> if you detect repetitions. Use links extensively (C-c l) to connect one header
>> with another, specially after you get lost once. Don't bother too much about
>> finding the right place at the first time, you'll eventually reorder or move
>> headers to the correct place.
>
> I'm curious about this. Is this a well-known recommendation/best
> practice? I actually struggle with this a great deal. Often a bit of
> research or testing for a specific project at work is very possibly
> relevant to any number of future projects. So, working in product
> development, I find it hard to decide what the best "single location"
> is, and would love for it to act as though it were in multiple
> locations.

Isn't this what tags are good for, though? Sort of providing a secondary
structure to your information, orthogonal to Org's subtree structure?

> When the current project is done, I'd like to archive everything
> specifically related to it while keeping around the general knowledge
> I've accumulated for use with future efforts.

You could organize a project by subtree, but put generally-useful
research elsewhere, and tag that research by theme. Then give the
project subtree its own tag, but also add tags to the relevant research
themes. Open an Agenda with a "projecttag|themetag" tag search to see
both general research and project-specific stuff.

When the time comes, the project subtree gets archived, but the thematic
stuff stays.

Anyway, I'm sure you've considered all this, just curious what your
thoughts on tags are...

> Or is this what you mean by using links? Are you just saying that
> individuals should not be copying the same text around in multiple
> places?
>
>
> Thanks,
> John
>
> [snip]