organize

Organize your Mac filesystem.

Huh?

Organize helps you stay organized on your Mac. It sets up a very simple project management system that works for me (maybe not you).

Install

$ gem install organize
$ organize install

Now you can create some projects!

$ organize create FOSS
$ organize create Social
$ organize create Freelance
$ organize create ElDorado

What does this do for me?

Organize will create a folder in your home directory called Projects. Inside of this folder you can place all of your projects. If you've ever used Things by CulturedCode, think of these projects like Areas of Responsibility. These are large goals in your life that won't be completed for a couple months or will never be completed. Don't make too many of them. I usually have around 13 or so.

Inside of each project folder, there is a single Shared folder created for you automatically. The Shared folder links to a folder in your Dropbox of the same name as the project. Anything that you'd like to share across multiple computers should be placed in here.

Organize also creates a couple other folders. The Archive folder located in the root of the Projects folder are for old projects that you've completed but would like to still have the file around, just in case something bad happens. The Inbox folder is a symlink to your Desktop. This folder and its corresponding Shared folder are for things that you're either too lazy to fit into another folder or are very temporary things that you'll never need for more than 5 or ten minutes. Keep your desktop down to 5 or 6 items at all times.

The Other folder links your various home folder sections (like Documents, Movies, Music, etc.) that don't quite fit into the organization system. The only things that should go in these folders are resources which transcend the projects. Your iTunes folder is a prime example, along with Parallels VMs and movies you've downloaded. This folder also has a Shared folder for things like your 1Password keychain.

That's it.

Awesome! How can I make this even cooler?

You can make your life easier by adding a simple little function to your zsh.

cd ~/Projects/$1;

If you save it as a short name like p, you can just do a simple little:

p FOSS

to get to your FOSS project. Ohhh yeahhh!

You can even make it autocomplete!

#compdef p
_files -W ~/Projects -/

Crazy!

Just as a small cosmetic enhancement, I like using the icon of the Utilities folder for my Projects folder. It kinda make it fit in more when viewed in the Finder.

Note on Patches/Pull Requests

  • Fork the project.
  • Make your feature addition or bug fix.
  • Add tests for it. This is important so I don’t break it in a future version unintentionally.
  • Commit, do not mess with rakefile, version, or history. (if you want to have your own version, that is fine but bump version in a commit by itself in another branch so I can ignore when I pull)
  • Send me a pull request. Bonus points for topic branches.

See the LICENSE for details.