Organization & Taxonomy

Organizing & Taxonomy

Greetings kinkless people!

I’ve just gotten into GTD and as part of my new system, I’d like to grasp a general, and in some instances specific, understanding of how each of you apply taxonomy to the way you organize and structure your Mac. I’ve got a considerable amount of data to go through, and I’d like to set up a script-assisted system that will help me stick to and reinforce the way I name and organize files on my Mac. Even more, I’d like to have this understanding to help me structure and organize my DEVONthink, Yojimbo, and (eventually) OmniFocus data, on top of my library of movies, tv shows, music, and books.

Obviously there are some simple concepts that come with this, and some necessary steps that I’ll need to complete in preparation. I’d like to construct a ruleset in text (perhaps expanding it in OmniGraffle before implementing the system) of each of the conventions I’ll consult before adding a file, action, or project to whichever system I’m working in. Here are some observations I’ve taken already:

-simply tagging files (while helpful) seems to fall short because of the sheer difficulty of keeping tags on every kind of file consistant. I find that when organizing my serial numbers in Yojimbo, I’ll tag one as “serial”, one “sn” and one “license”. This is partially a problem of mine…

-a hierarchal system of folders seems to be what Ethan prefers, and while I’m not out to mirror Ethan’s system, it works well for him, and is something I’d like to consider.

Now, what do you all find works for you? I think I can handle a good part of actually launching my system once I’ve got all the metathink going, so what I’m asking is: how do you organize your data? What do you do for filenameing conventions? Do you use Spotlight or Quicksilver to assist in managing and accessing your data? Do you have any helpful resources (books or articles) towards reaching a consitant and organized system?

Thanks much for your time!

May all good things be yours.