Key takeaways
- The most impactful learning happens in the flow of work—during code reviews, retros, and problem-solving—not in classrooms or LMS platforms.
- Leaders should embed learning into daily routines using the Learn → Question → Answer → Apply cycle.
- To make continuous learning stick, focus on three practices: be intentional, lead by example, and offer multimodal solutions.
If you feel like tech skills have a shorter shelf life than ever, you’re not alone. New frameworks, programming languages, tools, and workflows are constantly reshaping the way developers and technologists work—the way entire organizations work. The skills your teams mastered last year may already feel outdated, especially in the AI arena, where models and applications are evolving with dizzying speed. The need for continuous learning is a given.
But the way organizations approach professional development often doesn’t align with how learning actually happens. Traditional classrooms, online learning modules, and lengthy certification programs have plenty of value to offer, but on their own, they’re not enough. That’s because knowledge decays quickly when it’s not applied: a phenomenon called the forgetting curve. Unless employees use what they’ve learned right away, much of it vanishes.
The most effective learning doesn’t happen in a classroom. It happens during work. A developer encounters a tricky bug. An engineer spots a better pattern in a code review. A team reflects during a sprint retrospective. The question is: How do leaders harness these moments of real-world learning so they become lasting, collective knowledge?
Learning in the flow of work
Embedding education directly into daily tasks and workflows makes it part of the natural rhythm of work rather than something separate and siloed. Because learning and application are nearly simultaneous, the forgetting curve flattens out. Teams retain knowledge because they’re putting it into practice straightaway.
For developers, learning in the flow of work might happen:
- During a code review: A junior developer learns a best practice for structuring APIs.
- While troubleshooting a bug: An engineer discovers a new debugging technique and shares it with their peers.
- In a sprint retrospective: The team identifies a recurring pain point and develops a better workflow.
These are valuable learning moments. If they aren’t captured, reinforced, and made accessible to others, their value fades quickly. Over time, organizations lose an enormous amount of institutional knowledge that costs them precious time and energy.
In our most recent episode of Leaders of Code, Christina Dacauaziliqua, senior learning specialist at Morgan Stanley, summed up why learning in the flow of work is so crucial. “Where 70% of learning occurs is in the flow of the work and on the job,” she said. “And capturing [knowledge] in a way that is thoughtful and relevant for the future and hopefully can self-deprecate over time. But more than capturing, we are always battling this forget curve, right? Basically you learn something and immediately, if you don’t keep on practising, you start forgetting…So I learn something, and then all of a sudden I go to a place where I’m searching for answers or I’m asking questions. But even better, I’m answering questions, which validates the learning that I have done and then using that information to solve problems, which further establishes and reinforces learning.”
Learn → Question → Answer → Apply
One way to think about learning in the flow of work is through the Learn → Question → Answer → Apply framework:
- Learn: Exposure to new information, such as a programming pattern, tool, or workflow.
- Question: The natural next step, where curiosity or problem-driven needs spark further inquiry.
- Answer: Finding solutions, whether through technical documentation, peer knowledge, or internal resources.
- Apply: Reinforcing that knowledge by putting it into practice immediately.
This cycle reflects how developers naturally operate. For example, a developer experimenting with AI-enabled programming might learn about a new library, ask questions about how it integrates with existing systems, consult docs or colleagues for an answer, and then apply it in a project. Each step deepens retention and makes the education more durable.
Data spotlight: 2025 Developer Survey insights
Stack Overflow’s 2025 Developer Survey highlights just how important continuous learning is for technologists today:
- 69% of respondents reported spending time learning new coding techniques or languages in the past year.
- 36% of respondents specifically explored AI-enabled programming in the last year, showing the rapid pace of change as AI reshapes software development.
- Despite this shift, technical documentation remains the most-used learning resource, utilized by 68% of respondents in the last year. This suggests that developers prioritize accessible, contextual, and practical learning over formal training.
Developers are already learning continuously, but this education often happens in fragmented, ad-hoc fashion. Organizations that meet employees where they are—at their desks, in the flow of work—can amplify this learning and turn it into a cultural advantage.
Leadership advice: Embedding continuous learning into teams
On Leaders of Code, Christina framed the challenge in simple terms. In order for learning to stick, leaders need to design for it. A culture of continuous learning doesn’t magically appear from nowhere once you’ve hired the right person or bought the right tool. Instead, it’s the result of conscious, strategic decisions made deliberately by organizational leadership.
“Success is viewed in isolation as if it’s something that comes out of nowhere,” Christina explained. “And we really need to create that dialogue of really, yes, it does happen because there is a lot of reflection into lessons learned and wins in a very intentional way. Help the learners, help your staff connect the dots by sharing what you're learning, what are the wins and how the learning has impacted your journey in a varied way. I really think that sharing your habits often sparks a story and a conversation, and we are driven by storytelling.”
Christina highlighted three requirements for embedding continuous learning into teams:
- Learn with intention.
- Encourage teams to be deliberate about how they learn. Incidental exposure is valuable, but structured time to focus on new skills is what leads to deeper growth.
- One idea: Leaders should dedicate 10% of each sprint to deep exploration. This allows developers to experiment with new tools and technologies, then share their knowledge across the organization.
- Lead by example.
- “Be the change you want to see” goes double for leadership. That means showing curiosity, asking questions publicly, and—perhaps most important of all—admitting when you don’t know something.
- When leaders share their own learning journeys, it signals to employees that learning is not a distraction from work. Instead, it’s an integral, everyday part of their jobs.
- Embrace multimodal solutions.
- Not every employee learns the same way. Leaders should support a blend of modalities: searchable documentation, peer Q&A forums, mentoring, microlearning, and AI-powered discovery tools.
- By offering multiple paths, leaders ensure learning is easily accessible when and where employees need it and in the format that works best for their individual learning style.
Practical tips and solutions for leaders
How can business, tech, and engineering leaders turn these ideas into practice? Here are some actionable steps to take:
- Create knowledge-sharing rituals: Establish lightweight but consistent practices, like writeups after postmortems, show-and-tell sessions during standups, or monthly lunch-and-learns.
- Build a central knowledge hub: Capture questions, answers, and best practices in a platform where that information becomes searchable and reusable, preventing knowledge from being siloed in chat threads or personal notes.
- Integrate AI-assisted learning: Leverage AI tools to surface relevant knowledge in context, whether it’s pulling up internal Q&A, suggesting documentation, or helping employees frame better questions. This can be especially helpful when a user is brand new to a topic and isn’t sure which questions to ask to drive their learning forward.
- Reinforce learning in retrospectives: Ask not just “what went wrong?” but “what did we learn?” Make sure that the ensuing insights are documented and shared.
- Recognize and reward knowledge sharers: Celebrate employees who contribute answers, write documentation, or mentor peers. Recognition goes a long way toward turning knowledge-sharing into a valued cultural norm.
Find the right tool for the job
Stack Overflow for Teams is built to capture knowledge and reinforce learnings in the flow of work. Our public platform is already a trusted resource for developers, who see Stack Overflow as the best place to find answers to the coding conundrums they encounter. Having a dedicated, internal Stack Overflow for your organization helps you:
- Capture and preserve knowledge acquired in the flow of work, like during a code review or when troubleshooting a new issue.
- Reinforce learning by encouraging users to ask and answer questions.
- Flatten the forgetting curve by nudging teams to use and share new skills as they acquire them.
- Embed learning into your workflows with seamless integration with platforms like Slack, Microsoft Teams, GitHub, and Jira that surfaces knowledge within the flow of work.
Turning continuous learning into a daily habit
The future of work in technology isn’t about sending employees to more classrooms or loading them down with more modules. It’s about creating an environment where learning happens organically and continuously.
By embracing the Learn → Question → Answer → Apply cycle, leaders can keep valuable learning moments from slipping away. And by following Christina’s advice—encouraging intentional learning, modeling it themselves, and supporting multimodal approaches—they can weave continuous learning into the fabric of their organizations.