Matt Young over at Code Thrasher describes his bespoke notetaking workflow based on Org-mode. Rather than depend on packages like Org-roam for things such as backlinks, Young implemented his own version that worked just the way he wanted.
For example, in addition to backlinks, Young implemented a database that linked a person in his database to the any headlines that involved them. That allowed him to answer question like, “Who did I discuss [some topic] with?”
His setup is very idiosyncratic but finely tuned to work exactly the way he finds most useful. Others who don’t want the heavy machinery of things like Org-roam may find his system useful.
Regardless, the main takeaway for me is that his workflow is yet another example of how flexible Emacs is. You can bend it in almost any direction to get just the workflow you want.