What only works here
A client's configuration, one system's quirk, the shortcut that works with that version. All of it lives in the project log and there it is gold.
Judgement
Almost nothing deserves to stay
It is the decision that defines a shared memory. Set the bar low and it fills with special cases and stops being shared. Set it too high and nobody learns anything from anyone.
What came back gets in, not what sounded good
The rule
Four conditions, all at once
01
More than one agent used it
One agent finding it useful proves it was useful to one. Two different agents applying it start to be a signal.
02
On more than one project
A lesson tied to one specific client belongs in that client's log. Only what works without its original context rises here.
03
Held up over time
What looks true for a week sometimes stops being true within a month. Time is the only filter that cannot be faked.
04
You can say why
If nobody can explain where it came from, it is not knowledge: it is a habit. And a habit should not propagate itself across the whole system.
What stays out
Not rubbish: just not from here
Almost everything an agent learns does not rise, and that does not make it useless. It is still where it was born, which is usually the only place it makes sense.
What stopped being used
What nobody retrieves for months fades without anyone having to delete it. A memory that only grows ends up a dead archive with a search box.