# Granularity of IDs

> 'How big is an ID' is a common question; Lucy answered it differently than I would have, and I like what she did.

> 19/31 daily posts as part of [WeblogPoMo2024](https://weblog.anniegreens.lol/weblog-posting-month-2024). Expect (and forgive) more words and less editing.

While [I was away](/22.00.0045/) last week, Lucy recorded herself creating her [index](/documentation/the-jdex). (We're still recording that section of the [workshop](/jdu/workshop).)

One of the items she added was a doctor's referral letter. My natural instinct would have been to create a **very granular** ID, something like:

`12.20 Referral for scan for achy knee problem`[^health]

...or maybe broaden it to the **subject** rather than the specific **action:**

`12.20 Achy knee problem`

This is just how I've always done it. But Lucy did this instead:

`12.20 Doctors and tests`

That's **much less granular** than I would have done, and _I really like it._

Because I don't _need_ a super-specific ID for that scan. In the grand scheme of my life, does every little thing that I do need its own ID? No. I'd be drowning in them.

Lucy's answer fits better with an idea that we came up with while recording the workshop: IDs are like the manila folders that we show on [the home page](/documentation/introduction/#the-solution). When you sit down to do 'some work', imagine yourself opening that folder. Ideally, everything you need is in it, and not much more.

And imagine that they cost about a dollar. So you wouldn't create them willy-nilly, but nor should creating one be something you consider _too_ deeply.

## Put the date in the scan's filename

The crucial extra step here, which Lucy did, is to name the scan so that it includes the date at the front:

`2024-05-19 Referral for achy knee scan.pdf`[^date]

This way, folder `12.20` can contain an almost limitless amount of this sort of information without ever feeling cluttered.

If I'm lucky, this one folder will serve me for the rest of my life.

## Officially endorsed

I really like this approach. I'll be doing it myself when I rebuild my own systems.

> There is a follow-up to this post at [`22.00.0052`](/22.00.0052/).

[^health]: Where category `12 Health`.

[^date]: I shouldn't have to tell you by now that `yyyy-mm-dd` is the only way you should ever write a date. Should I?