A file system should help another person find the right document without asking you where it lives. Saliem Talash uses a small set of folders and a consistent name pattern to make project handoffs easier. Here is a practical version you can adopt in an afternoon.
Start with a handful of top-level folders such as Admin, Customers, Finance and Archive. Put each active project or customer one level below. When a project ends, move its folder to Archive rather than scattering individual files. A structure you can explain in one sentence is easier to maintain than a maze of nested folders.
Use a simple pattern: date, project, document, version. For example, 2026-09-24_acme-bakery_quote_v02.pdf is a fictional file name that tells you what it is without opening it. Date-first names sort chronologically; two-digit versions sort in the right order. Use dashes or underscores instead of spaces and keep the wording short enough to scan. Harvard Medical School’s data-management guide recommends documenting the convention so collaborators use the same pattern.
At the top of each project folder, add a short README: what the folder contains, where the latest approved version lives, and which files should not be edited. Once a week, clear Downloads and Desktop, rename anything worth keeping, and file it. The goal is not to reorganize every old document. Start with new files, and repair old ones when you need them.
Source: Harvard Medical School, “File Naming Conventions” (Data Management). Prepared with AI assistance.