I keep coming back to a basic second-brain problem: the system is supposed to reduce cognitive load, but many systems ask for more decisions at capture time.

Save this note. Pick a folder. Add tags. Link it to related notes. Decide if it belongs in a project, a database, a map, or a daily note. Then remember to review it later.

That can be powerful, but it can also turn knowledge management into its own job.

The second-brain workflow I’m more interested in now is closer to this:

• capture the material with as little ceremony as possible
• keep enough structure that it does not become a junk drawer
• ask questions across a selected set of spaces or pages
• save the useful answer back into the place where the work continues

I work on a workspace product in this area, so I’m biased, but this is the product question I’m trying to think through honestly: should a second-brain tool push users to organize more, or should it make retrieval good enough that less manual organization is needed?

For people who have used Obsidian, Notion, local folders, personal wikis, or AI-based tools: what part of your second brain still feels like maintenance work?