CODE
CODE
CODE (Capture, Organize, Distill, Express) is the fundamental operating system for modern knowledge work. It flips the traditional model of learning—which prioritizes memorization and categorization—in favor of execution and output. By treating information as a raw material that must move through a supply chain, CODE ensures that every piece of data consumed eventually contributes to a tangible result (The Express Phase), preventing the common trap of "Digital Hoarding."
A four-stage pipeline for processing information:
Capture: Save only what resonates. Don't capture everything; capture the 1% that sparks insight. (The Intake Valve).
Organize: Save for actionability, not by subject. Use the PARA Method to place notes where they will be used, not where they belong. (The Sorting Floor).
Distill: Find the essence. Use Progressive Summarization to strip away the noise until only the core truth remains. (The Refinery).
Express: Show your work. Combine distilled knowledge into Intermediate Packets or final deliverables. (The Shipping Dock).
| File | topics | source | pages | created |
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| File | topics | source | page | created |
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Before (bad):
Reading a book on AI Safety: You highlight 50 pages. You save the notes in a folder named "Books/Non-Fiction/AI." You never look at them again because the folder is an archive, not a workspace.
After (pattern applied):
Reading a book on AI Safety:
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Capture: You highlight only the 3 paragraphs that relate to your current work.
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Organize: You save the note directly into the Project Folder: Industrial AI OS, not a generic "Books" folder.
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Distill: You bold the specific sentence about "Watchdog Timers."
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Express: You paste that bolded sentence into your LinkedIn article draft. The note is now "consumed."
- The Collector's Fallacy: Capturing thousands of articles but never moving to the "Distill" or "Express" phase. This creates debt, not value.
- The Librarian Trap: Organizing by complex topics (Dewey Decimal style) rather than by active Projects. If a note isn't actionable, it's clogging the system.
- Over-Distilling: Summarizing for the sake of summarizing, without a clear output vehicle (Blog, Report, Email) in mind.
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Do I have to do all 4 steps for every note? No. Most notes stop at Capture. Only Distill notes when you are actively using them for a project.
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Which app should I use? The tool matters less than the flow. Obsidian, Notion, and Evernote all work if the process is respected.
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How does this handle old notes? If an old note isn't relevant to a current Project (Organize), it stays in the Archive. You don't need to "clean up" the past; you only need to curate the present.
Source: Building a Second Brain, Tiago Forte (2022)
| Related molecules: The Second Brain |
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