Half Life of Knowledge

How long is your knowledge relevant? In other words, what is the half-life of your knowledge?

Wikipedia has a nice description of the half-life of knowledge

The half-life of knowledge or half-life of facts is the amount of time that has to elapse before half of the knowledge or facts in a particular area is superseded or shown to be untrue. These coined terms belong to the field of quantitative analysis of science known as scientometrics.

Here are a few things to think about:

  • What is the half-life of entrepreneur knowledge? Can we take lessons from the past and use them today?
  • What is the half-life of knowledge about software architecture and design?
  • What is the half-life of knowledge about sales and marketing techniques?

Some knowledge may have a shorter half-life, than others. To stay relevant in your industry you need to figure out how much of your knowledge is still useful.