I’m Clemens, a computer scientist by passion with over 30 years in the IT world. Today, I’m mainly occupied with a question that has accompanied me throughout my entire career: How do you actually organise what you know?
The road here
It all started with a degree in Medical Informatics. After that, I joined the Datenzentrale Schleswig-Holstein working in office automation — at a time when computers in government agencies were still genuine rarities.
What followed were nearly 30 years in IT management for the state government of Schleswig-Holstein. During that time, I moved through various fields that, in hindsight, read like a common thread: process-oriented knowledge management, IT architecture, and ultimately information security. In my final role, I served as the state CISO, responsible for the information security of the entire federal state.
After three decades in the public sector, I moved into consulting and, until retirement, advised government agencies and public institutions on IT management and information security.
Today, I live in Skåne in southern Sweden — with a small business of my own, a patch of forest that I manage, and the freedom to devote myself to the topics that truly fascinate me. That this transition worked out has a lot to do with the systems I write about here.
Why personal knowledge management?
If you work in IT, you constantly need to acquire new knowledge. In information security, this isn’t optional — it’s a prerequisite. Threats change, technologies evolve, regulations are updated.
Perhaps this sounds familiar: notes scattered across five different apps, books read without leaving a trace, learning projects started with enthusiasm that quietly fizzle out. Collecting isn’t the problem — retrieving, connecting, and staying on track is.
Early on, I realised that simply collecting information isn’t enough. The real challenge lies in organising knowledge so that it’s available at the right moment and can continue to develop. This experience — built up over decades and continuously refined — is what I want to share here.
What to expect
On this blog, I’m learning in public. I write about methods, tools, and ways of thinking around personal knowledge management — and about how AI assistants can find a sensible place in everyday life, without chasing every hype. Not as a finished expert dispensing wisdom, but as someone who reflects on and evolves their own practice.
If you’re wondering how to better organise your knowledge — whether professionally or personally — you’re in the right place. I look forward to the exchange.
On the side
When I’m not thinking about knowledge management, I occupy myself with languages, writing systems, and etymology. And the story of the forest? That’s one for another time.