The client wants ‘that version - now!’

Edit v008 final v002

You‘ve got it. Or you had it recently. Where the hell did I put it? Stress level rise.

This doesn’t cut it. We all know it. The reality is you’re drowning in stuff. We like to think of ourselves as semi-organised. But until you stop, take time out & build a system, there’s only so much you can do.

I certainly felt organised, I was knee-deep in organisation. There’s just too much stuff. Everything adds a file, a folder, a level. We name folders ‘File This.’ We put folder structures into folders. We build clutter with delayed decisions. Human brains don’t hold file paths. You’ll end up saying things like ‘it’s just not where I left it’. Or ‘Gremlins.’

I had tried a few times to get organised, but my annoyance led to yet more folders. The decision to go all in on change was simple; I had filed something for ‘safekeeping’ and it wasn’t available for retrieval. Is there any other kind of signal?

I still have my backlogs, I’m just much more comfortable knowing where they are.

Everything is linked

I started my file-system on purpose. I read some reviews & spend $20 on a Johnny Decimal PDF, well worth a look. That got me off the blocks. What I ended up with is entirely my own, but the gist is the same: 100 lists of 100 things. Carve up your existence into 100 categories, group them in tens & apply one further sub-division of 100. Put nothing in these two levels → your hierarchy. Your content lives in the two tiers beneath. Now every file has exactly one home - and it won’t change.

IDs are numbers. Not letters. Keep categories broad [eg Tools = 20] and File IDs specific [eg Flame = 01] → Everything about Flame now lives in 20-01 Flame. When you hit around 20 items per folder, you need another category - no long lists.

FileIDs are universal. Cross app. Mac or PC. Email. Everywhere.

Synchronise. The final piece. Every file in Notion, every task in Todoist, are now one and the same. Tick it off here, disappears there. I use third party service 2Sync for this

Apply it to Flame Job Mgmt

Same every time. Laid out in advance, covers all eventualities, everything where you expect it.

Filesystem Example

**10_01** Photoshop from client
**30_08** Photoshop from me

Apply it to Client Requests

‘Send me file X by tomorrow → Tomorrow comes. Todoist pings. Task contains file link → Click Send. Click Done.

That kind of power can make you giddy. Me anyway.

Apply it as Flame Template System

Suppose I test something in Flame & it’s good. A screen comp perhaps. I dump assets to 20-01 FlameUser. Then some time next year, I’m in a pinch to set up a screen comp quickly. Search Notion Database 20-01 Flame User. Open in Flame. Assets intact. Just re-track→ don’t built twice.

Apply it to Production

Every completed task forms a feed, a full history of filtered notes. Zero extra work. Dates, times, lessons learned. I keep an entire calendar just for this. Time tracking taken care of → If a client asks about an iteration from last week, I can tell you which pass fixed the weirdness and the tests I ran at the time.

Reality Check: I might be making this sound too easy

Time investment: It took me two years to set up. I nearly put it in the bin right before I finished it. Does ‘Car’ live under ‘House’ or ‘Transport’? At first, my categories had a tendency to slip, I couldn’t lock them down. This solidified naturally over time.

Tech challenges: I couldn't resist full automation, but it can be slightly sinister. I lost calendars & missed appointments. Eventually, I learned it was quick and easy to delete everything and start fresh, instead of fixing corruption.

Maintenance reality: FileIDs you rarely visit suffer digital withering. Crucially, they don’t stop working, but visiting them feels old. I have a near constant urge to update everything. Plus, there’s a tiny overhead for every file you work with, so it’s not completely free to use.

The Productivity Gains are Undeniable

I can find any file from five years ago in under 30 seconds - it’s near perfect recall.

Simplicity: Despite the setup complexity, daily use is close to effortless. The entire clutter of life is shut away, so that I can focus, but opens with just a click.

File linking: https://www.linkyourfile.com/
Todoist: https://www.todoist.com/
Notion: https://www.notion.com/
Sync service: https://2sync.com/
Johnny Decimal: https://johnnydecimal.com/

Cluttered Desktop? Here's a FileID System for every Task, File & Note in Production