---
title: "Sources for work-related answers — Knowledge data 2026"
url: https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/knowledge/data/knowledge-q
year: 2026
chapter: "knowledge"
question: "KnowledgeQ"
section: "Knowledge sources and trust"
licence: "ODbL 1.0 (https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1-0/)"
---

# Sources for work-related answers

Coworkers (72%) and code repos (63%) are the go-to sources — internal beats external.

Asked as: When you need to answer a work-related question, which sources do you use most often? Select up to 5. (`KnowledgeQ`, multi select, optional, v2026.1)

## Options offered

1. Coworkers or teammates
2. Manager or leadership
3. Internal documentation (i.e. Design, product, or planning docs), wiki, or knowledge base
4. Internal chat tools, such as Slack or Teams
5. Project management or ticketing tools
6. Code repositories or code comments
7. Product, vendor, or API documentation
8. Meeting notes or transcripts
9. Customer, support, or sales information
10. Past decisions or architecture records
11. Stack Overflow
12. Official docs
13. Vendor forum
14. None of these
15. Not sure
16. Other, please specify (with free-text entry)

## Results

### All Respondents

n = 14,462

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Coworkers or teammates | 10,405 | 71.9% |
| Code repositories or code comments | 9,065 | 62.7% |
| Internal documentation (i.e. Design, product, or planning docs), wiki, or knowledge base | 8,687 | 60.1% |
| Internal chat tools, such as Slack or Teams | 6,572 | 45.4% |
| Official docs | 4,415 | 30.5% |
| Product, vendor, or API documentation | 4,221 | 29.2% |
| Stack Overflow | 3,472 | 24.0% |
| Manager or leadership | 3,272 | 22.6% |
| Project management or ticketing tools | 2,916 | 20.2% |
| Past decisions or architecture records | 2,248 | 15.5% |
| Meeting notes or transcripts | 1,536 | 10.6% |
| Other | 1,008 | 7.0% |
| Vendor forum | 411 | 2.8% |
| Customer, support, or sales information | 362 | 2.5% |
| Not sure | 196 | 1.4% |
| None of these | 122 | 0.8% |

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