S-tier programming skill: organize code and behavior such that others can discover and understand it out later without your presence/consultation.
S-tier writing skill: organize a story or idea within a story such that the reader understands or builds upon it, makes it theirs.
A-tier relationship skill: organize or set stuff down such that your partner can find it later, without needing to ask you where it is. (Riffing off Merlin Mann here, I think.)
Ergo: organizing, and empathizing, are skills worth developing.
It’s a bit of an affordance. Put the idea, code object, etc. where you’d expect to find it or naturally reach for it. Even better, put it where you think someone else would look for it first.
Tiago Forte, How to Take Smart Notes: 10 Principles to Revolutionize Your Note-Taking and Writing:
In other words, instead of filing things away according to where they came from, you file them according to where they’re going. This is the essential difference between organizing like a librarian and organizing like a writer.
All those productivity hacks might pay off, some day!
