Just in time information vs just in case information

• optimise for knowledge that leads to immediate action information lakes vs information rivers

A simple taxonomy

Just in time information is information that is: • used for immediate effect in whatever action, a programmer who looks at documentation to inform themselves about what to write next for their desired outcome, information that is actively found and used for productive means • human prompts to find X

Just in case information is information that is: • not used immediately but can be productive in the future, like learning cooking recipes that you may or may not apply in a month • it often feels productive (this is most of the consumption of the self development genre) but its only productive if it enacts change otherwise its wasted bandwidth • this is what advanced social media network algorithms feed you to keep you hooked, the next reel you watch might actually be useful because one time you watched a reel that spiked your emotions so you look for that same high • dopamine slot machine, variable reward schedule which is talked about at length in other venues • this activity is low emotion and low yield, cheap candy hits that are easy, things that are easy you can assume many others are also getting the same information so your mind can become dangerously undifferentiated • this could also be observing low level information like an analyst to make impactful decisions • exploration: not everything you consume has to be productive, leisure is fine searching for inspiration means that most things will be dead ends and that is ok too • art and reading books would go in this category • books although not applied immediately can shift how a person approaches life and can make more wholistic changes to a person • for example: someone reads a book and is so inspired they make a career change, documentation about rust compilers probably doesn't have this effect (most of the time)

remember memory is information + emotion • if there is no emotion attached to the information you will forget it • you should audit your information diet and be intentional about how you view the things you consume and how they relate to your goals, the food you consume make up your body, the information you consume make up your mind

information lakes are things that can compound, information rivers are flimsier and harder to compound unless they're actionable

information is useful if it aligns your internal world view to the actual world

Further reading:

• Gabriel Petersson interview

edited 2025-12-1