Subfolder patterns

The trick to a well-organised system

IDs can be quite broad and contain a lot of stuff. The secret to keeping them neat is well-defined subfolders. We're going to put on our bossy voice for a moment. In order to say you should never have:

  • Ad-hoc,
  • Randomly named,
  • Un-numbered subfolders in an ID.

That's the world of chaos we're escaping from. Everything has a pattern. Find it.

Using the date

If you have a bunch of things whose creation date is a useful anchor, this is a great choice. For example, I create a dated subfolder when I process my quarterly income at 13.21 in the Small Business System.

How to do dates

There is one correct way: yyyy-mm-dd. Year-month-day. Because it sorts chronologically in your filesystem.

It's not a matter of preference. And you're not being unpatriotic if you eschew your nation's preferred date format. (I'm talking to you, America.) It's the only logical option.

Alternatives

If you do things by month, try yyyy-mm:

  • I use this in archives when the exact date is unclear.
  • Or to refer to a whole month, not a specific day.

If you do things by quarter, try yyyy-q1…4:

  • But caution, calendar quarter or tax quarter?

If you do things by week, try yyyy-ww:

  • I used this for timesheets in an old job.
  • Most calendar apps have an option to show week numbers.

Using the alphabet

Most things aren't neatly organised by the alphabet. Which is why we use numbers to provide structure. But if you have things that naturally sort alphabetically (e.g. names), it makes no sense to ignore it.

Example: be consistent

Let's say you have an ID called 'Suppliers for bakery ingredients'. Those suppliers each have a name. Use it!

And whether you start with first name, surname, or organisation name: be consistent. Or it won't sort. This sounds really obvious. But I can't tell you how many times I've seen a folder that looks like:

Figure 62.35A. Unsorted, inconsistently-named subfolders.

Example: add a number

You might want to sort primarily by the alphabet. But still need an identifying number. Add it after the name in [square brackets].

The first entry you create gets [01], the second [02], and so on. But they won't appear this way in your list.

Figure 62.35B. Alphabetically-sorted subfolders with an identifier.

The fallback pattern

When there isn't a 'natural' way to subfolder something, you need to make one up. But we need some structure.

Use subfolders starting 10 through 90, for example:

Figure 62.35C. A subfolder template from our systems' travel categories.

Advantages

  • Limited to nine subfolders: this should be enough, but leaves room for expansion. You can sneak 15 between 10 and 20 if needed.
  • Sequences items logically: the template above is the order that you plan, execute, and reconcile a trip.
  • Builds muscle-memory: the numbers stay in place if you add additional items (a big benefit over the alphabet).

Related blog post: Don't type the date by hand.