What is Knowledge Management?
The classic definition of Knowledge Management was created by Tom Davenport (1994): “Knowledge Management is the process of capturing, distributing, and effectively using knowledge.” There are lots of different systems and softwares you can utilize to improve knowledge management in your life and in your business. This article will cover some of the most popular knowledge management systems as well as the system that we ourselves use here at Rain or Shine. As for software, we ourselves use Notion, (affiliate link!) but we firmly believe that you need to design the system that will work for you before you commit to any specific software. After all, how can you find the software that meets your needs if you don’t know what your needs are?
Why is Knowledge Management important?
We believe that capturing, sharing, and using knowledge is important to anyone who believes that knowledge is important, for mostly the same reasons. One of our company values is Learning, and as such, we’ve spent a lot of time examining our systems of research, teaching, and continuous learning. Along the way, we’ve experimented with many different knowledge management systems, and we’ve come back to the fact that capturing the things we learn and keeping them in one place significantly assists repetition and connection between concepts. Essentially, investing in our Knowledge Management systems increases our chances of having new ideas and remembering the things that we’ve learned.
In his book The Organized Mind, neuroscientist Daniel Levitin uses his knowledge of the brain to explore how we can best organize and retain information. He says “the most fundamental principle of the organized mind, the one most critical to keeping us from forgetting or losing things, is to shift the burden of organizing from our brains to the external world. If we can remove some or all of the process from our brains and put it out into the physical world, we are less likely to make mistakes. This is not because of the limited capacity of our brains—rather, it’s because of the nature of memory storage and retrieval in our brains: Memory processes can easily become distracted or confounded by other, similar items.” (Levitin, 2014) There are a wide variety of systems that help us to externalize the information we’re gathering on a regular basis, so let’s dive into the particulars of some of the most popular knowledge management systems.
Knowledge Management Systems
The Second Brain by Tiago Forte
If you’re at all interested in knowledge management or organizing digital files and information, you’ve probably heard of Tiago Forte’s Second Brain system. This system is built on the CODE framework, which outlines the four stages of the creative process.

To begin, you capture the important information the resonates with you into an inbox database. Then, usually at a later date, you organize that information for actionability. Forte created the PARA system to aid in the organization process, essentially stating that all information can sorted into the following categories:
- Projects: short-term efforts (in your work or personal life) that you take on with a certain goal in mind
- Areas: Long-term responsibilities you want to manage over time
- Resources: Topics or interests that may be useful in the future
- Archive: Inactive items from the other 3 categories
Once your information is captured and organized, you begin to actually use the knowledge you’ve gained and you’ll naturally start to notice patterns and connections. Distilling the information you’ve collected into simple summaries can help speed up that process and aid you in the next step, which is expressing your unique ideas and experiences. As Forte (2022) states: “All of this capturing, organizing, and distilling has one ultimate purpose: creating tangible results in the real world.”
Getting Things Done by David Allen
David Allen (2015) says that the GTD® system was designed to move you from hope to trust. The idea is that if you follow this framework and you externalize all of your ideas and tasks, you’ll be able to look at the potential actions you could take and trust your intuition to select the action that’s most important to you. The GTD® system is very similar to the CODE framework, but contains five individual steps:
- Capture, where you gather any and everything that has your attention immediately into an inbox.
- Clarify, where you decide on the next action and project (if applicable), or sort into the categories of trash, reference, or something to put on hold.
- Organize, where you give yourself reminders of the categorized content in your environment.
- Reflect, where you update and review all pertinent system contents to regain control and focus.
- Engage, where you make action decisions with confidence and clarity.
Knowledge Vault System by August Bradley
This system is part of a much larger life operating system that Bradley has designed, Pilars Pipelines and Vaults. In his instructional video on the use and creation of the Knowledge Vault, Bradley (2020) states that brains might not be good at remembering, but they are good at making connections and creating new things. You need an extension that helps you remember and brings ideas together so that you’re able to grow and apply them throughout your life.
Bradley’s system consists of four separate categories of information:
- Books and Media Vault
- Courses and Memeberships Vault
- Tools, Services, and Software Vault
- Notes and Ideas Vault
Each of these databases is then linked to the main Knowledge Vault, which consists a database full of topics you’re interested in learning and exploring deeper. These main topics contain references to all the knowledge, ideas, and conversations you’ve had, as well as provide you with a central easy to review place to synthesize the most important information and build new ideas. This is the system that I personally use, though it is continuously in flux. I like that I can link ideas and articles to multiple topics, and I like having a central place for notes and key concepts.

Three-Ring-Binder System by Barbara Sher
If you’re the kind of person who prefers to use paper and pen to capture your ideas, Barbara Sher suggests utilizing three ring binders. If you have many interests and like to investigate each of them on a deep level, Sher (2006) shares: “If you haven’t used them in the past, you’re in for a delightful revelation when you create a different binder for every interest. Having lots of binders is part of the system. Every time you get inspired by a new interest, you reach for a new binder and give that new interest a home.”
Of course, this concept of organizing your resources and information by interest can be applied to your digital tools as well. The point of all knowledge management systems is knowing that nothing will be lost. Sher is the leading expert in systems for people with diverse interests, and one thing multi-passionate people know is that it rarely feels like you have the time to devote yourself to all of your meny ideas the way that you want to. Utilizing a knowledge management system ensures that all of your ideas and knowledge will wait for you and be easy to find when you do have the time.
Zettelkasten System by Niklas Luhmann
This is another system for the analog note takers. Developed by a german sociologist with an incredible range of written and published literature, this system utilizes index cards and slip boxes to organize three categories of notes:
- Fleeting Notes, for those shower ideas and things that will be lost if you don’t write them down immediately
- Literature Notes, which include reference information and one 3-5 sentence idea from literature you’ve consumed written in your own words
- Permanent Notes, which can be summarized from Fleeting or Literature notes, but most importantly need to be ideas that can be explained without context, so your future self or less resourced readers can understand the idea immediately. These notes also have references, whether to literature and media or to other cards within your system.
Luhmann had a reference box for his literature notes and a main idea box for his permanent notes, which he organized via a numbering system and a register of entry points. Luhmann’s numbering system allowed him to make sequences of notes and intersperse new notes between adjacent older notes by adding another character to the end. The register of entry points differs from most other knowledge management systems in that it does not sort every card or idea by topic, but rather asks how and when you’ll want to recall your ideas. Choosing entry points or points of recall allows you to make connections and search through ideas in a more organic way.

Categorizing Your Knowledge
The primary way that different Knowledge Management methods differ is in how they choose to categorize the information that you’ve deemed important enough to keep. Categorization fundamentally streamlines the flow of information, and you’ll remember from the beginning of this article, the primary goal of knowledge management systems is to improve the use of our knowledge.
If it’s such an important aspect, why are there so many different ways of categorizing the knowledge you’ve gained?
Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin (2014) says: “Our brains come preconfigured to create categories and classifications of things automatically and without our conscious intervention. When the systems we’re trying to set up are in collision with the way our brain automatically categorizes things, we end up losing things, missing appointments, or forgetting to do things we needed to do.”
So how do we determine and work with the innate categories our brain has already created?
Well, you can book a systems structure session to work with a strategist who can guide you through the process of defining your needs and how you’ll meet them. Or, if you want to forge ahead on your own, your best bet is probably going to be experimentation. Take a look at the systems above and see which, if any, stand out as the most intuitive to you. Try them out. Spend a few weeks or months collecting information and organizing it one way, then schedule some time to look at what you’ve collected and see how it’s working for you.
- Is it easy to collect, organize, and recall the information you’ve learned?
- Are you able to see connections between what you’ve learned?
- Are you having new ideas?
Remember, there’s no shame in collecting information and deciding to change your mind. If one of these organizational methods doesn’t work for you, keep trying! Your ultimate goal is to make the collection, categorization, and use of your knowledge easier for yourself, and we have full faith in your ability to know what that is when you get there.
References:
Allen, David. (2015), Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. Penguin Books. ISBN 13: 978-0143126560. https://gettingthingsdone.com
Bradley, August. (2020, July 28), Knowledge Vault – Notion Knowledge Management System. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt2uE_CinMs
Davenport, Thomas H. (1994), Saving IT’s Soul: Human Centered Information Management. Harvard Business Review, March-April, 72 (2)pp. 119-131.
Forte, Tiago. (2022), Building A Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential. Simon Element / Simon Acumen. UPC 9781982167387. https://www.buildingasecondbrain.com
Levitin, Daniel J. (2014), The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload. Dutton. ISBN 13: 978-0147516312
Sascha. (2020), Introduction to the Zettelkasten Method. Zettelkasten Method. https://arc.net/l/quote/sqalrraf
Sher, Barbara. (2006), Refuse To Choose: A Revolutionary Program for Doing Everything That You Love. Rodale Books. ISBN 13: 9781594863035
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