The Naming Game
Here is a folder full of files with messy names, like the ones on every business computer. Your job: pick a naming rule. The game renames every file it can. Watch which files get fixed, and which ones stay stuck no matter what.
1Pick a messy folder
2Pick a naming rule
A naming rule says what goes into a file name, and in what order. For example: first the date, then the client, then what the file is. Each chip below is one part of the name. Drag the chips to change the order. Dark chips are required: if a file is missing that piece of information, it gets stuck.
No rule picked yet. Pick one above, or build your own from the parts below.
- 1420 pine/
- eviction 20230517.pdf
- move in 20240103.pdf
- notice 20251223.pdf
- work order.xlsx
- bylaws nov.pdf
- Copy of Key log.pdf
- final_draft_v2 (3).doc
- Hoa FINAL FINAL.docx
- IMG_2169.jpg
- ledger 2024.pdf
- ledger jan.docx
- maintenance 2023.docx
- maple st/
- hoa 20220816.pdf
- ledger.doc
- photos/
- IMG_5744.jpg
- IMG_5745.jpg
- IMG_5746.jpg
- unit 20230604.pdf
- work order 20220515.pdf
- Move ins/
- 1420 pine jun.pdf
- maple st aug.pdf
- oakhurst ave 2022.xlsx
- oakhurst ave apr.pdf
- New Folder/
- notes.txt
- work order.doc
- notes 2020.txt
- notice 2020.xlsx
- notice dec.docx
- oakhurst ave/
- eviction.pdf
- notice 20231225.pdf
- screening 20230615.pdf
- screening 20250717.pdf
- Old Stuff/
- eviction 2017.pdf
- misc/
- notice (2).pdf
- scan.pdf
- old eviction.pdf
- rent roll v2.pdf
- screening sep.pdf
- stuff/
- random.txt
- Scan_20251010_909.pdf
- Scan_20251010_910.pdf
- Scan_20251010_911.pdf
- Scan_20251010_912.pdf
- unit 2022.pdf
- untitled.xlsx
- work order jan.pdf
Why do folders always end up messy?
When files live inside folders, the folder does part of the naming work for you. A file inside a folder called Leases must be a lease, so nobody has to write the word lease in its name. Take the folders away, and every file name has to say what the file is, all by itself, in the right order, every single time. People forget. People rush. Nothing on the computer checks the names. That is the whole story of messy folders. The rule is free. The checking is the part that has to be built.
Operations Audit, $750
This game is a small version of a real service. We point this same engine at your actual files. It renames nothing. It only shows you what can be fixed and what cannot. The fee counts toward any work you hire us for afterward.
You just fixed 40 files in 3 minutes. You have 40,000.
Book the audit