🦄 The Perfect PKM App Doesn’t Exist

A few weeks ago, I presented a PKM (Personal Knowledge Management) Workshop for Shawn Blanc’s Focus Course Academy. And I think I ruffled a few feathers when I made this statement, but I believe it’s 100% true:

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You see, I believe Personal Knowledge Management requires a series of apps that all work together to facilitate the flow of information between them.

For example:

• You capture a note about a meeting you need to have in your note-taking app
• You then schedule the meeting on your calendar
• You create a task for the prep you need to in your task manager

Trying to track all of this in a single app is madness. What you really need is a PKM Stack.

A PKM Stack is a list of the applications and technologies you use to keep track of what comes in and out of your attention. Like a technology stack that allows an application to function, your PKM stack is critical for managing information well.

Here are the different elements of my PK Stack and what I use them for:

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• My personal tasks are kept in Todoist
• My work tasks are all in ClickUp
• My visual thinking (mind mapping) happens in MindNode
• My events and calendars are all kept in Fantastical
• My scratchpad of quick capture on my iPhone or Apple Watch is Drafts
• My RSS articles and material to read later are kept in Readwise Reader
• All of my long-term notes as well as my ideas and writing exist in Obsidian

Having a clear place for everything is important! If you don’t know what job you’ve hired an app to do, you probably don’t really need it. And remember, we want to keep things as simple as we can without compromising our workflow.

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The other thing that has helped me a ton in understanding how my personal knowledge gets managed effectively is the process of mapping out my information flow. It took a little while to do, but understanding how information flows into and out of my PKM stack helps me understand the role of each app I decide to use.

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While this may look complicated, I actually believe it helps me keep things simpler because it’s clear what job each app is being hired to do.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the amount of information you’re trying to manage, it’s likely from a lack of clarity about the role of your PKM tools.

I encourage you audit your own information flows. See if there are any unnecessary pieces making things more complex than necessary.

And the next time you’re tempted to move everything into a new system, remember – the perfect PKM app doesn’t exist.

— Mike

P.S. Last week, I hosted a webinar for the Faith-Based Productivity community where I walked through the information flow I shared above. If you’re interested, the replay is available here.