It’s a question that comes up constantly in my conversations with colleagues or professionals I work with: “How do you manage to keep up with all the tech news? Between AI, home automation, and new programming practices… the volume of information is staggering.” Their surprise grows when I add that I follow more than 500 different sources, ranging from specialized technical blogs to geopolitics. The assumption is always the same: “That must take you an incredible amount of time.”
The reality is, my entire tech watch rarely takes more than an hour a day. The secret isn’t time, but the system.
The real problem isn’t a lack of information, but an excess of noise. Many of us rely on social media algorithms for our professional watch, without realizing they are optimized for our engagement, not our learning. They keep us on the surface, in an illusion of knowledge that prevents us from building deep expertise.
This article is the first in a series where I will lay out the philosophy and structure of the system I’ve built over the years. A system designed for one thing: to take back control and transform informational chaos into a deliberate and intentional process.
The Trap of Passive Consumption: The Illusion of Staying Informed on Social Media
We’ve all done it. A five-minute break between meetings, a moment of waiting, and the reflex kicks in: we open LinkedIn or X and scroll through a news feed. By skimming a few headlines, we get the feeling of being productive, of “doing our tech watch.”
The problem is, that feeling is an illusion. The algorithms on these platforms aren’t designed for our education, but to capture our attention. Their sole objective is to present us with content that maximizes engagement: short, oversimplified, sometimes controversial, but rarely deep.
The result is “surface consumption,” the informational equivalent of a junk food diet. You feel temporarily full but suffer from intellectual malnutrition, endlessly cycling through the same generic concepts without ever delving into complexity.
For an architect, this superficiality is dangerous. Our role demands “T-shaped” expertise: a broad knowledge base, but crucially, the ability to dive deep into critical subjects. By confining us to the horizontal bar of the T, algorithms turn us into commentators when our role is to be builders.
Taking Back Control: Becoming the Curator of Your Own Information Stream
Faced with this reality, the solution isn’t to consume more, but to consume better. It’s a fundamental mindset shift: moving from a passive consumer subjected to a stream, to an active curator who builds their own information environment.
Taking back control means intentionally deciding which sources deserve your attention. Forget infinite feeds and start actively selecting the expert blogs, specialized newsletters, and technical channels that truly help you grow. Every source must be a deliberate choice, not an algorithmic suggestion.
The first concrete step in this system is to centralize these high-quality sources in one place. The goal is to create an intentional bottleneck, a single space that contains only the signal, stripped of the noise and distractions of social platforms.
Intelligent Triage: Delegating Cognitive Load to a Personal AI
Centralizing 500 sources is one thing, but how do you process them daily without spending hours? Brute force is not an option. The solution is to intelligently delegate the cognitive load.
This is where artificial intelligence comes into play, not as a gimmick, but as a bespoke personal assistant. The principle is simple: you teach it to recognize what is relevant to you. By analyzing the articles you read and those you ignore, the AI builds a model of your interests and uses it to pre-filter the noise.
In my system, this filter is incredibly effective. Each day, up to 75% of new items are automatically discarded before I even see them. They don’t match my interests, are redundant, or are simply low-quality.
What’s left? Only the signal. My daily review is then transformed into a 15-20 minute triage sprint. My role is not to read, but to decide. Every article or video deemed relevant is immediately sent to its final destination—Kindle, a podcast generator, a video player—for later consumption. This separation is crucial: it creates a second, natural filter that counters the impulsive pull of novelty.
Optimized Consumption: The Right Content, on the Right Medium, at the Right Time
Sorted information is not yet acquired knowledge. The most common mistake is to consume valuable content in an environment unsuited for it. Reading an in-depth technical article on a smartphone between notifications is the best way to retain only fragments of it.
The final step of my system is to route each type of content to a dedicated consumption channel, optimized for learning, not distraction.
For long articles, the destination is my Kindle. Every day, the texts I’ve selected are compiled and sent as a personal magazine. The Kindle is a single-task device, free of distractions, designed for deep reading. The experience is radically different: the context promotes focus and, consequently, retention.
Some articles are better suited for listening. They are sent to a service that transforms them into private podcasts. This allows me to consume information during otherwise “lost” time: a commute, a workout, a walk. It’s a net productivity gain that requires no extra time in my schedule.
Finally, technical videos or conference talks are never watched on YouTube. They are sent to a dedicated application that isolates them from algorithmic noise, ads, and endless suggestions. When I open this app, I only see the list of videos I intentionally chose. It’s a controlled viewing environment, not an engagement spiral.
A System, Not Just a Trick
The system I’ve just described is not a mere collection of productivity tips. It’s a comprehensive approach, a philosophy for interacting with information intentionally.
This article has laid the foundation: the “why” behind this method. But my goal is not just to inspire you; it is also to give you the tools to build your own version of this system.
That’s why this article is the first in a complete series. In the coming weeks, we will move from theory to practice to assemble this machine together, brick by brick.
Become the Architect of Your Watch System
This week, I invite you to try a concrete exercise to start building the foundation of your future watch system.
The next time a piece of content truly resonates with you—an in-depth article, a relevant technical video—don’t just move on. Adopt a researcher’s stance:
- What is the source? Does the author have a personal blog with other articles of this quality? Does this YouTube channel regularly publish content that helps you grow?
- If the answer is yes, add that source (the blog URL, channel, etc.) to a simple list.
The goal isn’t to read everything yet, but to start building the catalog of high-quality sources that will feed your system. This is the first brick.
Conclusion
Stop letting algorithms dictate what you should know on the surface. The true architect of your expertise is you, and the tool is the system you build from sources you intentionally choose. It’s the only way to build deep, targeted knowledge, brick by brick.