Most of what you read, hear, and learn disappears within weeks. Research on the forgetting curve consistently shows that people lose 70 – 80% of newly learned information within days unless they take active steps to retain it. For most people, the books they read last year might as well not have been read at all.

The cost goes beyond wasted reading time. Without a reliable way to capture and retrieve information, you end up re-researching the same questions, losing track of useful sources, and making decisions based on whatever happens to be in your head at the time. Surveys of knowledge workers suggest they spend 15 – 30% of their working hours searching for information they have encountered before.

Good information management compounds over time. Each piece of well-organised knowledge makes future learning easier, because you have more existing context to connect new ideas to. People who maintain effective personal knowledge systems tend to develop richer mental models, spot patterns across domains more readily, and make better-informed decisions.

The good news is that even simple, consistent practices – a reliable place to capture notes, a workable way to find them again – put you well ahead of most people. You do not need a sophisticated system to see substantial benefits.

People manage information for different reasons. This site scores every information management intervention across four core values. Later, you'll set your own weighting across these four values, and the site will rank interventions by how well they deliver on the things you actually care about.

Information Retention

Capturing and preserving valuable insights, ideas, and knowledge from various sources without losing them over time. Comprehensive coverage – the more you retain, the more valuable your knowledge base becomes. People who lean towards this value focus on broad capture across many sources and contexts, and measure success by how little slips through the cracks.

Retrieval Efficiency

Finding the right information quickly when you need it. Having relevant knowledge accessible at decision points is what makes information management valuable for real-world outcomes. People who lean towards this value focus on search capabilities, organisation schemes, and fast access – and judge their system by how quickly it surfaces what they need.

Insight Generation

Connecting ideas across sources to generate new understanding, identify patterns, and develop original thinking. People who lean towards this value focus on systems that help them see relationships between concepts and build coherent mental models. They want their notes to produce ideas they would not have had otherwise.

System Simplicity

Preferring approaches that minimise ongoing cognitive overhead and maintenance burden, whether through minimal analogue systems (notebooks, index cards) or highly automated digital setups. People who lean towards this value want their information system to support their thinking without becoming a project unto itself.

The Top 0.1% band represents roughly 1 in 1,000 people. To give you a sense of what that looks like for each information management value:

Awareness means knowing your starting point. Answer each question below – some you might know off the top of your head, others might take a few minutes to reflect on.

You now understand why information management matters, what different people get out of it, what's achievable, and where you currently stand. The final step is to set your personal value weightings and see which interventions are the best fit for you.

On the interventions page, adjust the sliders to reflect how much you care about information retention, retrieval efficiency, insight generation, and system simplicity. The table will re-rank interventions to match your priorities.

Go to Information Management Interventions →