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Organize One-Off Task Files with Dated Work Directories

Development Practices
by:
Desktop organization

Say you’re about to begin a task that will involve working with some files. Perhaps you’re [creating a diagram](https://spin.atomicobject.com/2017/11/15/table-rel-diagrams-graphviz/) or [encoding some GIFs](https://spin.atomicobject.com/2015/07/08/simple-gif-screencast-workflow-mac/). Where do you put the files?

It’s tempting to use the desktop, but that quickly [becomes unsustainable](https://www.google.com/search?q=cluttered+computer+desktop&tbm=isch).

For a decade or so, I’ve placed artifacts like this in dated directories like `~/datedwork/2018.06.23-grep-production-logs`. This works well for a few reasons:

  • I don’t have to think about it.
  • It lets me work from a clean slate.
  • It’s easy to find later (on the rare occasion that I need it).
  • It stays out of my way.
  • The date prefix prevents name collisions and helps me quickly find that thing I did last summer.

If you don’t already have a system that works well for you, I recommend trying this method. I also recommend automating it.

## Make the Easy Easier
I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I’ve only automated this recently. Here’s the handy [fish shell](https://spin.atomicobject.com/2018/01/31/fish-shell-functions/) function I use:


function workdir -d "Create and switch to a dated work dir"
  set dir ~/datedwork/(date "+%Y.%m.%d")"-$argv[1]"
  mkdir -p $dir
  cd $dir
end

And, for everyone else, here’s a Bash version you can drop in `~/.bashrc`:


workdir() {
    dir="$HOME/datedwork/"`date "+%Y.%m.%d"`"-$1"
    mkdir -p $dir
    cd $dir
}

With the shell function in place, a clean slate is one quick `workdir do-the-thing` command away. Compared to glancing at the date and typing a longer `mkdir` command, this slight reduction in effort seems trivial, but it has made a noticable difference in my workflow.

Before automating, I’d often subconsciously avoid the ceremony of creating a special directory, choosing to clutter up some more-accessible folder instead. Making this task as easy as possible makes me more likely to reach for the better solution.

## Conclusion
The nested _sort_ directories on my desktop prove that I’m not a perfectly organized computer user, but this technique helps a lot. It’s also fun to look back at a chronlogical journal of the random tasks I’ve worked on over the years.

How do you organize files like this?

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