Rethinking MY PKM: How I Organize Everything In Obsidian
Short Summary:
This video details the speaker's personal knowledge management (PKM) system within Obsidian, evolving from a previous "Rethinking My PKM" series. The core concept revolves around six principles (simplicity, minimizing friction, accepting a "brownfield" reality, avoiding file movement, applying the LATCH method for findability, and always linking) and fourteen system components. Key technologies include Obsidian, Templater, Data View, and Excalidraw. The system emphasizes findability through multiple organizational methods (folders as namespaces, single tags per page, ontology for link relationships, atomic notes and transclusion, consistent file naming conventions, templates, daily notes with geotagging, and context-aware task management). The speaker demonstrates how these components work together, providing numerous examples from their own Obsidian vault. The overall implication is a highly customizable and efficient PKM system adaptable to a messy, pre-existing data environment.
Detailed Summary:
The video is structured around the speaker's six principles for PKM and the detailed explanation of their 14 system components.
Section 1: Six Principles of PKM
The speaker introduces six core principles guiding their system: 1) Keep it simple: Each component has a single, clear purpose. 2) Minimize friction: Utilizing tools like Templater and Data View for automation. 3) Embrace the "brownfield" reality: Accepting pre-existing, messy data from previous systems (e.g., Evernote, The Brain). 4) Avoid moving files: To prevent broken links. 5) Apply LATCH: (Location, Alphabet, Time, Category, Hierarchy) for maximizing findability. 6) Always link: Minimizing orphan files by ensuring every file is linked within the Obsidian graph.
Section 2: Folders as Namespaces
Folders are treated not as storage locations but as namespaces for organizing links. The speaker demonstrates creating links like people/author/Dan_Romero before the file even exists, pre-defining the file type. Folders also help manage Obsidian Sync exclusions for large files. A year-month-day folder naming convention is used for chronological organization of videos. Attachments are kept in subfolders within the topic folder.
Section 3: Tags and Excalidraw Integration
The speaker uses a single tag per page to define the type of content, influencing the visual representation in Excalidraw. Each tag has a specific color and icon in Excalidraw for immediate visual identification. The speaker shows how this is configured within Excalidraw settings. A past color-coding system from their previous PKM system is referenced as a parallel to the tag system.
Section 4: Links, Ontology, and Excalidraw Storyboards
The speaker uses ontology (defined with Data View fields) to describe relationships between notes (parent, child, lateral) visualized in Excalidraw. They demonstrate using double colons to trigger ontology suggestions. Embedding items into Excalidraw storyboards creates visual links and connections. The speaker explains the visual representation of these relationships in Excalidraw, showing parent, child, and lateral links.
Section 5: Atomic Notes and Transclusion
The speaker emphasizes atomic notes and transclusion for reusability. They demonstrate reusing components like checkmarks and summary sections across multiple notes, creating contextual links. Consistent section headings (e.g., #summary) facilitate easy embedding of information. A trade-off between embedding and referencing is discussed, with the choice depending on the amount of content.
Section 6: File Naming Conventions
File names follow a consistent structure: type, keywords, and source. Examples include logo_apple_flaticon.png. Mocs start with an underscore. Automations are used to manage image libraries.
Section 7: Templates
Numerous templates automate various tasks, from creating single lines to generating multiple files and folders. Examples include templates for YouTube workflows and Excalidraw graphics.
Section 8: Maps of Content (MOCs)
MOCs summarize various topics, often including visual summaries. An example MOC on sketchnoting is shown, demonstrating the use of ontologies and links.
Section 9: Daily Notes, Geotagging, and Time Hierarchy
Daily notes establish the time hierarchy in LATCH. Geotagging with the Map View plugin adds location information, demonstrated with examples of past vacations. Check-in/check-out ontologies track the duration of events. The speaker shows how these daily notes link to one another chronologically and to other relevant notes.
Section 10: Tasks and Dynamic Lists
Tasks are displayed in the context of relevant notes using Data View queries. The speaker shows an example of task management within a person's note, using tags (e.g., "discuss with," "waiting for") for stylistic purposes. Data View and embedded Obsidian queries are used for dynamic lists.
Section 11: Diagnostics and Maintenance
A "Diagnostics and Maintenance" page tracks orphan notes and un-named pasted images, facilitating system cleanup.
The video concludes with a call to action to join the speaker's visual thinking workshop. The speaker provides a link to a comprehensive Excalidraw mind map summarizing the entire system.