This is a matter of opinion and experience, both of which are mine. There are problems with flat [[Hierarchy|hierarchies]] and deeply-nested hierarchies. However, **in practice we run into the drawbacks of too-deeply-nested hierarchies more often** than those of overly-flat hierarchies. > [!error] The Problems of Nesting > - too many places to look, things become difficult to find > - strong containment forces arbitrary choices that have ramifications > - duplication/recreation of resources in multiple spots, typically done unknowingly > [!error] The Problems of Flattening > - too many things crowd out what's relevant > - things that are dissimilar can be grouped together > - in business: too many employees for one manager to manage effectively Most successful, scalable forms of organization I've seen utilize a relatively *flat* [[Hierarchy]]. The [[Slip-Box Method]] essentially slots everything in a flat list[^1]. Systems like [[Jira]] and [[Notion]] both offer native methods to handle hierarchies of up to ~4-to-6 levels, but beyond that they tend to become gigantic repositories of things at each level. You *can* force both tools to have larger hierarchies, but I think in practice that doesn't scale as well. **Digital organization**: the problems of flattening are almost wholly mitigated by sorting, [[Tags are Better Than Folders|tagging]], and filtering mechanisms. Yet the pure hierarchy (i.e. folders) paradigm is how computers typically get organized. > [!tip] Leave the Defaults! > Every computer OS I've ever experienced has, by default, a folder structure that started with user then goes to file *type* (e.g. "pictures"), then stops. Just use those folders without building out a huge multi-tiered folder structure! **In business**: so many of the problems I've encountered have to do with different pockets of the business recognizing the same type of problem, then operating to solve the problem independently, only to arrive at different and incompatible solutions. **** # More ## Source - [[Myself]] [^1]: although the true [[Slip-Box Method]] as originally designed *did* employ a "next note"-style indexing system that would have, in theory, also presented a hierarchy, I think the actual experience would have looked like a simple flat list.