Turn Daily Work into Linked Notes on Projects and Decisions

## Keep One Topic per Note and Link Every Note Treat the workspace as an operational system, not a dumping ground. - Folders group material by operational purpose; links connect related meaning. - Every durable note must link to at least one existing note or index. - Keep each note focused on one concept, event, person, project, or decision. - Separate active work from completed work so current priorities remain visible. - Promote useful conclusions from temporary thinking into durable notes. - Preserve evidence close to the work that produced it. - Keep indexes curated as navigation surfaces rather than passive file lists. - Prefer deterministic placement rules over ad hoc organization. Before creating a new folder, ask whether a link, property, tag, or index entry would express the relationship more clearly. ## Set Up a Few Fixed Areas, from Active Work to Archive Use a small set of stable areas with explicit lifecycle rules: | Area | Purpose | Lifecycle | |---|---|---| | Active work | Current projects and decisions | Keep only a small number of live items; archive when complete | | Archive | Completed work and historical context | Organize by year or another stable period | | Meetings | Raw meeting notes awaiting processing | Route content into durable destinations, then clear the inbox | | Incidents | Incident record, analysis, and follow-up | Keep related artifacts together and link them to affected work | | Performance evidence | Outcomes, reviews, and competency evidence | Link every claim to source work | | People and teams | Roles, relationships, and organizational context | Update when responsibilities or interactions change | | Reference | Architecture, systems, and recurring methods | Maintain as reusable knowledge | | Thinking | Drafts and temporary analysis | Promote durable findings, then remove obsolete scratch material safely | | Templates | Repeatable note structures | Keep placeholders explicit and schemas consistent | Maintain a compact index for each major area. Indexes should show active items, recent additions, decisions, and important cross-links. ## Check Priorities at the Start and Archive Finished Work at the End At the start of substantial work: 1. Read the workspace entry point and current priorities. 2. Review active projects, open actions, and recent changes. 3. Consult only the knowledge topics relevant to the current task. 4. Check pending work before proposing new priorities. 5. Ground recommendations in the current goals and available evidence. At the end of substantial work: 1. Move completed projects from active work to the archive. 2. Update affected indexes, decisions, people, teams, and reference notes. 3. Promote reusable findings from temporary analysis into durable notes. 4. Record meaningful outcomes in the evidence or achievement system. 5. Verify that new notes have useful links and are discoverable. 6. Surface unresolved actions and identify the next concrete step. Skip steps that do not apply, but do not leave completed work mislabeled as active. ## Send Meeting Notes and Problem Reports to Their Proper Homes Classify incoming information by what it represents: - Project delivery, technical choices, and implementation evidence belong with the relevant work. - Review preparation and achievement framing belong with performance evidence. - Relationship, role, and collaboration context belong with people or team notes. - Incidents need a primary record plus linked analysis, timeline, impact, and follow-up. - Meeting notes are an inbox, not a permanent destination. - Reusable architecture or operational methods belong in reference knowledge. - Unstructured input must be classified before it becomes durable. Do not mix unrelated contexts into one note merely because they arrived in the same conversation or meeting. Split independent concepts into separate nodes and connect them with links. When information affects multiple areas, choose one authoritative home and link to it from the other relevant indexes or notes. ## Give Each Lasting Note Basic Details and at Least One Link Every durable note should include: - a descriptive title and filename; - structured metadata for date, description, tags, status, and type; - type-specific properties needed for filtering or reporting; - clear sections appropriate to the note type; - links to at least one existing note, index, person, team, project, or concept. Use templates for recurring note types, but replace every placeholder with real content. Apply these atomicity rules: 1. Create one note per distinct concept when sections can stand independently. 2. Keep evidence nodes linked to the concepts they demonstrate. 3. Keep concept nodes definitional and let evidence arrive through backlinks. 4. Keep index nodes actively curated as navigation hubs. 5. Link person and team nodes to projects, decisions, and evidence. Prefer stable properties for querying and links for relationships. Use tags for broad classification, not as a substitute for meaningful connections. ## Record Decisions with Their Reasons and Back Results with Proof For every material decision: 1. Record the context, options, chosen direction, rationale, and consequences. 2. Link the decision to the work that produced it. 3. Register it in the relevant decision index. 4. Update reusable knowledge when the decision changes an established pattern. For outcomes and achievements: - state the result and its impact; - link to the work, incident, review, or source evidence; - identify the capability or competency demonstrated; - avoid unsupported claims and preserve the verification trail. For people and teams: - record role, scope, relationship, key interactions, and relevant history; - link them to shared projects and evidence; - keep private or irrelevant personal details out of the workspace; - update organizational context when responsibilities change. Evidence should remain independently inspectable. Summaries may interpret it, but must not replace the source trail. ## Check for Broken Links and Get Approval Before Irreversible Changes Review the workspace regularly for: - orphaned notes with no meaningful links; - broken links and stale index entries; - completed work still marked active; - temporary analysis that contains unpromoted durable knowledge; - duplicated concepts competing as authoritative sources; - claims without evidence; - outdated people, team, or project context. Use version-aware moves when reorganizing so history is preserved. Never delete durable knowledge merely to make the structure look cleaner. Before an irreversible deletion or destructive bulk change: 1. identify the exact targets; 2. confirm that durable content has been promoted or preserved; 3. verify that links and indexes have replacement destinations; 4. obtain explicit approval; 5. apply the smallest scoped change and verify the result. Do not alter tool configuration, hidden application state, synchronization, or automation unless the task explicitly requires it. Operational quality comes from reliable lifecycle rules, traceable evidence, and safe maintenance—not from accumulating more folders or tooling.