Ideal file and directory structure for archive projects

Question

Project management

Hello, Habr experts.
For several years now, I have been unsuccessfully trying to find the ideal way to organize project directories and their structure.

background

Работаем в рамках веб-студии с несколькими людьми, с кем-то штатно, с кем-то удаленно, для совместной работы над проектами используем Bitbucket для кода, Google Drive для документов, Trello для таск-трекинга, но вот для организации рабочих материалов нет одного общего решения — тут одновременно и Dropbox и SugarSync и Яндекс-диск. Постепенно для удобства организации, да и простоты в целом, решили отказаться от Яндекс.Диска. Успешно. Теперь получается что ребята разделились на два лагеря — кому-то удобен Dropbox, кому-то SugarSync. Думали долго, в итоге выбрали SugarSync и оформили платный аккаунт «чтоб хватило всем»...

The question arose of how to properly organize the directory structure for projects, and what rules to follow for working with files in general, and in particular with PSD layouts. How best to work to avoid this: 01_Main_fix_new_FIX_SITE_05-11-2013.PSD. How to store everything? By projects in folders, further by directions or by numbers? What to do if a logo was developed separately in one project, a site was developed separately six months later, and then some other little things were separately developed? What if the same materials are used in several projects?

Over the past few years, I had a chance to work in different studios and the issue was not really resolved anywhere, the structure was constantly jumping from project to project, over time some files were lost, and in general, with a large number of projects, the workflow became hellish, especially when after six months or a year the old customer was announced and set new tasks.

Share your experience on this issue. I want to find the ideal option, develop a regulation and follow it.

Answer 1

There is no abstract ideal structure, because the structure depends on various criteria (meaning content, customer, file type, time of receipt from the customer, etc.), which in turn depend on the workflow that is used in the development team. Based on these criteria, files are organized into a structure. Moreover, the list of criteria is not necessarily the same for all files.

How to store everything? By projects in folders, further by directions or by numbers?

Audit all files to identify a list of already used and required (but not yet used) criteria. Then, taking into account the work model of each of the developers and the needs of users, select the necessary criteria so that they do not annoy developers when filling out, but also allow them to find information with an adequate degree of accuracy (i.e. you should not delve into the details of the structure and force developers to fill out each file has a cloud of criteria for the sake of an instant search for the desired file, performed every few months, but also so that when searching for the desired file, only a limited section of the file hierarchy has to be manually browsed).
For a group of projects, you can use a hierarchy (for example, in the case of projects of one large company, united by a common style). In this case, be prepared for the fact that the file structure will have to be rebuilt in case of a change in the structure of the company or in the event of a discrepancy between the created materials and the structure of the company (to avoid this, you can immediately use as the names of subprojects names that are removed from specific company names and more appropriate to the structure of the created materials).
Obsolete files can be periodically added to the "archive" folder, which can be created in the same folder as the archived file (i.e., create your own "archive" folder in each of the folders of the file structure).

What to do if a logo was developed separately in one project, a site was developed separately six months later, and then some other little things were separately developed?

Combine all these materials into one project with a common name, in which to create subfolders "website", "logo", "corporate style", "printed products", etc. As a common name, you can use the name of a company, domain, etc., if necessary, adding a prefix to each name, using capitalization, etc. means to indicate that the name of this folder is the name of the project.
Don't be alarmed if the merger is large-scale (however, think about the appropriateness of the timing of the merger if the final structure is still vague or additional changes are planned).

What if the same materials are used in several projects?

Place such materials in a separate project with a "long" name (for example, "general", "other", "library", etc.). Moreover, such a folder with shared files does not have to be one. If a hierarchy of sub-projects is used within one project, then such “extensive” folders can be at any level.
Structure example:

общее/
  архив/
    резные узоры (03.09.2012).psd
    резные узоры (12.03.2012).psd
    резные узоры (10.11.2012).psd
  резные узоры.psd
ООО Пульс/
  сайт/
    главная страница.psd
    внутренняя страница.psd
  печатная продукция/
    новогодняя акция 2013 (10x25).psd
  фирменный стиль/
    визитка.psd
  материалы от заказчика/
    11.02.2013/
      фото директора.png
    16.03.2013/
      фото бухгалтера.png
      фото администратора.png
ОАО ТелеСистемы/
  общее/
    диалоговое окно.psd
    всплывающая подсказка.psd
  Ритейл/
    сайт/
    печатная продукция/

  Интранет/
    сайт/

PS: Of course, you can also use English names as folder names (archive, general, library, etc.).
PPS: I've only considered organizing content based on files and directories.

Answer 2

My experience on this issue suggests that the folder structure is not entirely efficient: in the real world, objects can be classified according to different criteria (in your case, date, project name, customer, type - logo, website, etc.). Adopt the organization of directories, for example, by projects, but constantly assign files to a specific set of keywords from various classifications. Then, if you need a particular file, use the search. Here we briefly described the essence of tags as applied to the file structure :-)
I think that there are now opportunities and programs to solve your problem.

Answer 3

how would it be more convenient to say.
in general, when there are a lot of different types of files, things like Sharepoint help a lot, in which you can store all this file in one, easily backup (ms sql db in this version) storage, with a convenient search interface and assigning the same tags to files . access option - windows, web.
plus versioning - if the designer messed up, you can roll back, track changes, set up processing processes, for example, if the layout designer is waiting for the picture, you can automatically kick the photographer and photo proofreader with the system, and again, put the customer into this system to approve the changes.
the same Sharepoint thing is quite complicated, but at the same time it is a chic constructor, if you know and prepare it correctly in your “aquarium” of technical processes.
There are also analogues to the above Sharepoint, because There are a lot of such “constructors”, but you need to look, try and see what is more suitable and what you like to use in your work.
Sharepoint has a version of the Foundation, you need to see what license restrictions it has, maybe they will suit you.