Comment by mmooss

> It turns out that I am rarely in a position, while writing or thinking, where I want to glance through lots of old notes as a way to figure out what to say or do. Mostly that feels like sifting through stale garbage.

IMHO you may need to produce much better quality knowledge. You are missing out.

A good KB - personal or shared - captures high-value knowledge and lets you pickup where you left off, years later, with little effort. That way you are always working with the best knowledge you've ever had. What defines high-value?

First, it's high-impact - it changes things in significant ways: Trivia about C++'s origins is unlikely to be worthwhile; something from an expert that changes your whole perspective about C++'s design and applications may be. Also it's accurate, high-quality knowledge; otherwise the impact will be much reduced or it may even be significant in the wrong way - for example, Wikipedia IMHO doesn't qualify (in other ways too), but a lit review by an expert can be priceless.

Second, it's hard to replace: 1) Discovery is unlikely: you are unlikely to think of or encounter it next time, at least not unless you revisit the issue in depth. 2) It's hard to find - even if you think of it, you won't be able to find it or recreate it easily. Maybe it's buried in a book you won't remember. For example, if you have info on operating systems, you need little about Windows, Android, etc. because you use them daily (hypothetically) and info is easily available. Insights on TempleOS might be better, or from that keynote by Dennis Ritchie that you attended.

By capturing the value, you get much greater ROI - a lifetime or career of it - from your knowledge work. That also incentivizes deep, high-value knowledge work.