---
title: "Barriers to finding context — Knowledge data 2026"
url: https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/knowledge/data/context-problems
year: 2026
chapter: "knowledge"
question: "ContextProblems"
section: "Context Challenges"
licence: "ODbL 1.0 (https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1-0/)"
---

# Barriers to finding context

Incomplete info (63%), knowledge in people's heads (61%), and outdated info (56%) are top barriers.

Asked as: Which of the following make it difficult to get the context you need for work? Select all that apply. (`ContextProblems`, multi select, optional, v2026.1)

## Options offered

1. Information is spread across too many tools
2. Information is outdated
3. Information is incomplete
4. I do not know where to look
5. I do not know which source is authoritative
6. Important context lives in people’s heads
7. Important decisions are hard to find later
8. Different teams have different versions of the truth
9. Access or permissions prevent me from seeing what I need
10. Search does not return useful results
11. AI tools do not have enough context
12. AI tools use the wrong context
13. I intentionally limit context because of privacy or security concerns
14. I usually have the context I need
15. Not applicable
16. Other, please specify (with free-text entry)

## Results

### All Respondents

n = 12,374

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Information is incomplete | 7,825 | 63.2% |
| Important context lives in people’s heads | 7,541 | 60.9% |
| Information is outdated | 6,989 | 56.5% |
| Information is spread across too many tools | 6,603 | 53.4% |
| I do not know where to look | 3,816 | 30.8% |
| Important decisions are hard to find later | 3,226 | 26.1% |
| Different teams have different versions of the truth | 3,144 | 25.4% |
| Search does not return useful results | 2,881 | 23.3% |
| AI tools do not have enough context | 2,471 | 20.0% |
| I do not know which source is authoritative | 2,272 | 18.4% |
| AI tools use the wrong context | 2,075 | 16.8% |
| Access or permissions prevent me from seeing what I need | 1,961 | 15.8% |
| I usually have the context I need | 1,193 | 9.6% |
| I intentionally limit context because of privacy or security concerns | 753 | 6.1% |
| Not applicable | 291 | 2.4% |
| Other | 193 | 1.6% |

In context: https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/knowledge/data.md