A Mental Model for Personal Organization (Part II)
By: Cameron Flint'S Blog
Tags: Knowledge Management, Productivity, Notetaking, Organization, Digital Organization

Last updated: Monday November 23rd, 2020.

In the first part of this series, I introduced a 9-piece model for building your own organizational system. As I claimed then, the mental model is applicable across both the physical and digital realms, and it can be implemented with a diverse, near-limitless set of tools. The model is meant to be an opinionated, yet extremely flexible framework that anyone can confidently build upon to get organized and feel more productive.

In the next few sections we are going to look at strategies for structuring data inside of the nine components introduced previously. I’ll start with an exploration of three major taxonomies that I use to bring consistency and predictability across the patchwork of software, tools and mediums that make up my personal organizational system.

The challenge of organizing data

One of the hardest aspects of organizing information is figuring out what shape the data will take and how detailed the design will be. Will you mostly gather items into “buckets” or will you carefully file them away in a delicate hierarchy of folders? Will you choose broad or narrow category names, and how strictly will you adhere to the same groups across disparate systems? A nicely-designed taxonomy, along with a few rules of thumb, will help us to find the right balance.

If our method is too loose or arbitrary, over time the things we collect may form increasingly mixed, unkempt piles scattered everywhere. On the other hand if our design is too complex, we may find that maintaining the complicated structures by hand and synchronizing them between locations is time-consuming and error-prone. In either state of the world deciding where to put new things will feel taxing, and trying to find old things will feel cumbersome. This state of disorganization is what we absolutely want to avoid.

The three taxonomies

Periodic

A periodic taxonomy describes a set of categories that repeat over periods of time, such as years or months. Planning, goal-setting, journaling, reviews, and so forth fit neatly into this taxonomy type.

Example of a periodic taxonomy.

If the information being stored is tightly tied to a section of a timeline — like a year, month, quarter, semester, etc. — and you think you might recreate the folder structure for it each cycle, then a periodic taxonomy could be the solution.

I use the periodic taxonomy within the compass component of the 9-component mental model. I also find it useful for some sub-areas, such as work or school (see an example in the next section).

If you read an early version of part I, you might not recognize the compass component of the mental model. If not, I encourage you to check back and familiarize with the updated article. In either case, this may be a good point for me to mention that over time aspects of the mental model may evolve, as I continue to experiment, learn, and receive feedback from others.

Contextual

A contextual taxonomy is one that takes into account whether the item is related to a real-life, often physical context. It works well for some interests and activities, but especially for specific areas of involvement or responsibility.

Example of a contextual taxonomy.

We could optionally eliminate one level of nesting in the above example by listing the real “Company Name,” “Volunteer Organization,” and so forth as direct children of the “D_Areas” folder. The folder tree in the screenshot is intentionally broad in order to communicate the essence of a contextual taxonomy.

The previous point is worth repeating: none of the three taxonomies commit you to a hierarchical vs. bucket-like structure. The level of nesting is a separate decision from the taxonomy choice.

Notice also that although the immediate subfolders (Home, Family, Work, …) are organized contextually, one inner folder happens to be using a periodic rhythm (Spring Semester ’20, Fall Semester ’20, …). It’s fine to mix and match taxonomies as long as you’re careful not to let the hierarchy grow too complex. (Recall from Part I that 2–4 levels of nesting is ideal.)

Topical

When you enter a bookstore, books and magazines are arranged throughout the store and on the shelves by their subject matter. A topical taxonomy can be flat and specific, or nested and abstract. Topical taxonomies work very well for knowledge management, and for that reason they feature prominently in reference within the 9-component model.

Example of a topical taxonomy.

Due to its completeness, I usually save the topical structure for a few special uses cases. Currently I use it in three places: 1) my note-taking app, 2) my cloud filesystem, and 3) my bookmarking application. The three locations are not kept in exact sync, but they are close enough that my brain can get used to the pattern.