Your database / swipe file

Several times a day, when solving any kind of problem – interface design, marketing strategy, data integration, what’s that cool SaaS tool that does that thing – I query my personal database.

As of today the database has 12,379 links, all tagged and quickly searchable. The tagging’s pretty hasty and nothing’s perfect but it works, and it’s fast.

I got started on the social bookmarking service del.icio.us and have taken the database with me to several platforms since. (I loved del.icio.us; it remains one of my favourite tech services and I think it could’ve been a powerhouse – but that’s another post).

Speed of searching, ease of saving and data portability were my priorities when I saved and organised the first links and they’re still the priorities today. I save and tag links constantly and query my database for all kinds of stuff – everything including specific user interface design scenarios, system/data integration methods, and rooftop bars I save during travels to recommend. It’s all there and findable in seconds, like a backup brain ready to go 24/7. Who doesn’t love a good rooftop bar?

I might see what additional leverage comes with training a LLM on my database, but this would be an experiment more than a need. It’s already super efficient – saving, searching and organising my info happens with next to no overhead.

Whether you prefer to use Google Docs, Notion, a simple social bookmarking service or something else – if you can organise your links and references into a database, visual swipe file, or whatever format works best for you, I’m sure it’ll sharpen your sword.