{
  "schema": "vedokrok.public-item.v1",
  "release_id": "MHC-RPUB-20260920-75ad787a",
  "url": "/knowledge/do-not-track-personal-data-without-a-question-or-action",
  "id": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0700",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "title": "Do not track personal data without a question or action",
  "summary": "Data can create maintenance and cognitive burden without improving a decision.",
  "kind": "concept",
  "body": "Before adding a personal metric, state the question it answers, the action that could follow and a stop condition. If no plausible decision changes with the data, do not collect it by default. Periodically remove metrics that create attention cost without useful feedback.",
  "limits": [
    "Some records are required for medical, legal, financial or safety reasons even when no immediate action exists; those follow their own retention needs."
  ],
  "topics": [
    "union-personal-knowledge-refinding-and-maintenance"
  ],
  "intents": [],
  "source_ids": [
    "RS-E2280F1F36DBE51E"
  ],
  "evidence": [
    {
      "claim": "A 2025 systematic review of 172 personal-informatics articles documented unintended burdens including cognitive load, emotional stress and practical management problems from personal data systems.",
      "source_id": "RS-E2280F1F36DBE51E",
      "role": "supports",
      "note": "Personal informatics and PKM overlap only partly; the direct implication here is to avoid tracking with no decision or use case.",
      "locator": "Abstract"
    }
  ],
  "use_when": [
    "A dashboard keeps adding metrics because collection is easy."
  ],
  "avoid_when": [
    "Some records are required for medical, legal, financial or safety reasons even when no immediate action exists; those follow their own retention needs."
  ],
  "example": "Instead of tracking 20 productivity metrics, you keep one measure tied to whether a boundary experiment reduced end-of-day fatigue.",
  "check": "Every tracked personal metric has a stated use and review condition.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "RS-E2280F1F36DBE51E",
      "title": "Reflecting Upon the Unintended Consequences of Personal Informatics Systems: A Systematic Review of Empirical Studies",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1145/3715336.3735746"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "from": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0700",
      "to": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0687",
      "type": "compare_with",
      "url": "/knowledge/save-information-for-a-future-job-not-because-it-is-interesting"
    }
  ],
  "collections": [
    {
      "id": "RC-5086A3A5AA1D243D",
      "title": "Keep knowledge so you can find, trust and reuse it later",
      "url": "/collections/keep-knowledge-so-you-can-find-trust-and-reuse-it-later"
    }
  ]
}