Personal Knowledge Management Second Brain Methods and Madness

We are knowledge workers and ultimately, we must own our growth and learning. Personal Knowledge Management is a process of collecting information that one uses to gather, classify, store, search, retrieve and share knowledge in their daily activities and the way in which these processes support work activities.

Despite taking notes, bookmarking web content, and highlighting passages in books; often we struggle to recall or rediscover these many insights we pick up daily in our work and life. This session introduces a tool and some process recommendations to never again lose discoveries and knowledge resources.

Michael shares the tools and workflow he (and many on the NFJS tour) use to write, organize and share your thoughts, keep your todo list, and build your own digital garden. These approaches naturally connects what you know the same way your brain does, and makes it easier to make everything you learn actionable and always at your fingertips.

You'll learn the basics, tips and tricks, and recommendations of these tools and practices; and leave armed to deploy these right away as you continue learning at the conference!

About Michael Carducci

Michael Carducci spent years learning to see things as they actually are; first as a magician, then as a software architect, now as both simultaneously. And somehow that’s not even the whole story.

He’s the author of Mastering Software Architecture (Apress, 2025) and is currently writing The Semantic Layer. He has spent over 25 years following interesting problems; through roles from individual contributor to CTO and back again, across industries and continents.

As a speaker, he applies the same toolkit he uses in close-up magic: attention, misdirection, timing, storytelling, and the instinct to take the long way around when that’s where the truth lives. Audiences at hundreds of conferences across four continents have described his talks as the kind that change how you think about a problem rather than just what you know about it.

He also makes YouTube videos about technology and curiosity with his wife Kate, because some ideas are too important (or too interesting!) to leave only in conference rooms.

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