Zettlekasten

Invented by Nicholas Lumen, this is a knowledge management system that has gained popularity in recent years due to How to Take Smart Notes (which I haven’t read.)

It’s a series of small notes (Notes Should Be Atomic) linked together. Lumen used index cards and created a network of interconnected notes, using an alphanumeric system to get paths and see clusters of thought.

Strictly, this is not a Zettlekasten, it is a wiki. But the principles have helped me to design it. And you need to avoid Tool Fundamentalism anyway.

It’s also important to avoid the Collectors Fallacy.