# Retiring a category

**URL:** <https://forum.johnnydecimal.com/t/retiring-a-category/696>\
**Category:** Concepts\
**Created:** [April 7, 2023, 10:10am UTC](https://forum.johnnydecimal.com/t/retiring-a-category/696 "2023-04-07T10:10:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ice](https://forum.johnnydecimal.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/aeb1de/32.png) [@Ice](https://forum.johnnydecimal.com/u/Ice)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2023, 10:10am UTC](https://forum.johnnydecimal.com/t/retiring-a-category/696/1 "2023-04-07T10:10:05Z")

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Hi all!

I’m new to the forum and to creating my JD system, and have a question I’d love help with before I dive in too deep!

I am a consultant who works with a few, very large clients at a time. Each client has project areas, and within these areas are multiple projects and workstreams.

The only way I can get a reasonably shallow structure, is by having the client at the highest level.

Client A  
----Area 1  
--------Project 1  
--------Project 2  
----Area 2  
--------Project 1  
--------Project 2

Using JD would be something like

00-09 System  
10-19 Client A  
----11 Area 1  
--------11.01 Project 1  
------------File 1  
------------File 2  
--------11.02 Project 2  
------------File 1  
------------File 2

This gives me 99 projects for each client, which I think is sufficient.

BUT I want this system to last a long time, and over the years, I will have different clients. With the above system, I would archive 10-19 Client A, and then create a new group called 10-19 Client H.

Is this sensible?

Over a longer time, my archive will have 10-19 Client A, 10-19 Client H, etc.

Is this a problem? I’m unlikely to need to access the files from that area often (if I solve a problem for Client H that is similar to Client A, then I’d need to find it).

How would you recommend I organise myself to navigate this, or if the same as me, some reassurance would be wonderful! I don’t want to find out in 6 months that my system is a nightmare because of setup mistakes!

@johnnydecimal’s example on his site uses this as the current system, but once you have more than 10 clients (which you might over your career), what do you do?

 ![image](https://forum.johnnydecimal.com/uploads/default/original/1X/59970362b5b5f71e127929304021d7b2587295f2.jpeg)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![johnnydecimal](https://forum.johnnydecimal.com/user_avatar/forum.johnnydecimal.com/johnnydecimal/32/1759_2.png) [@johnnydecimal](https://forum.johnnydecimal.com/u/johnnydecimal)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 1:53am UTC](https://forum.johnnydecimal.com/t/retiring-a-category/696/2 "2023-04-08T01:53:33Z")

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> [@Ice](#):
>
> Client A  
> ----Area 1  
> --------Project 1  
> --------Project 2  
> ----Area 2  
> --------Project 1  
> --------Project 2

I think this is the way. Where possible, standardise area/category numbers so that each client looks similar. This will help you over time.

I’m in the process of updating the site and have a new project naming standard that I think is going to become the recommendation.

Rather than the project ID being 3 digits, as in my screenshot above, I’m using letter-digit-digit:

```txt
A01
A02
...
Z98
Z99

```

So you get more of those than you could ever possibly use. But don’t just start at `A01` and work your way up: pick something that works, semantically.

I currently work for a company whose name resembles `L43` if you squint the right way, so that’s my prefix for my project there. One single `L43` project covers my internal stuff (the company I work for) and a couple of closely related client projects (single client).

If I start a totally new project with this company I’d use something ‘around’ the `L43`, to keep them mentally adjacent.

When I start a new contract with a totally new company, I’ll pick a totally new combo.

> [@Ice](#):
>
> I am a consultant who works with a few, very large clients at a time.

This sounds a bit like me (IT contractor) vs. a freelancer who might have more projects, but each of those projects would be smaller.

This is an area I’m really interested in – I don’t think it’s solved yet – so if you could provide more information, examples, even if they’re obfuscated/invented, that’d be terrific.