10 Engineering Folder Structure Best Practices
If you want to keep your engineering projects organized, it's important to have a good folder structure. Here are 10 best practices to follow.
There are a lot of different ways to organize your engineering team’s folder structure. But with so many options, it can be hard to know which one is best for your team.
In this article, we’ll share 10 engineering folder structure best practices that will help you keep your project files organized and easy to find. By following these best practices, you can set your team up for success and make your engineering projects run more smoothly.
1. Use a standard folder structure
A standard folder structure helps to:
– Keep the engineering team organized
– Improve communication between team members
– Reduce the need for training new team members
A standard folder structure also makes it easier to share files and collaborate on projects.
2. Organize your folders by project type
When your folders are organized by project type, it’s easier to find the files you’re looking for. For example, if you’re looking for a file related to the front-end of your website, you can go straight to the “front-end” folder instead of having to search through all of your project’s files.
It’s also easier to keep track of changes to files when they’re organized by project type. For example, if you make a change to a file in the “front-end” folder, you’ll know that the change only affects the front-end of your website. This is opposed to if your files were not organized by project type, and you made a change to a file that affected both the front-end and back-end of your website.
Organizing your folders by project type is a best practice because it makes it easier to find and manage your project’s files.
3. Create subfolders for each project
When engineers are working on multiple projects at the same time, it can be difficult to keep track of which files belong to which project. This is especially true if the projects are similar in nature.
Creating a subfolder for each project helps to mitigate this issue by keeping the files for each project separate and organized. It also makes it easier to share files with other engineers working on the same project.
Additionally, when engineers need to access files for a specific project, they can simply navigate to the appropriate subfolder rather than searching through the entire engineering folder structure.
4. Keep your file names short and descriptive
Long file names can be difficult to read and understand, especially when you’re looking at a lot of files at once. Descriptive file names, on the other hand, can help you quickly identify what each file contains without having to open it up and take a look.
Short, descriptive file names are also easier to type out, which can save you time when you’re working with a lot of files. And if you ever need to share your files with someone else, they’ll appreciate being able to easily find and open the files they need.
5. Make sure everyone knows where to find files
If you’re working on a team of engineers, it’s important that everyone is able to find the files they need quickly and easily. A well-organized folder structure will help with this.
A good way to organize your engineering folders is to use a naming convention that includes the type of file, the project name, and the date. For example, you might have a folder called “Design Files” that contains all of the design files for a project. Within that folder, you would then have subfolders for each phase of the project, such as “Conceptual Design,” “Detailed Design,” and so on.
Using a consistent naming convention will make it easier for everyone on the team to find the files they need. It will also help you keep track of versions of files, which is important for quality control purposes.
6. Don’t use spaces in file names
When you use spaces in file names, it creates problems for the command line. The command line is a text interface for your computer. It’s how developers and system administrators interact with the operating system.
If you use spaces in file names, you have to put quotation marks around the file name every time you reference it in the command line. That’s because the space character is used to delimit arguments. So, if you don’t put quotation marks around the file name, the command line will think that everything after the space is a new argument.
It might not seem like a big deal, but it can be really annoying having to constantly remember to put quotation marks around file names with spaces. And, if you forget, it can lead to errors. So, just avoid using spaces in file names altogether.
7. Include version numbers in the file name
As your project grows, you will inevitably need to make changes to existing files. When you do, it’s important to keep track of those changes by incrementing the version number in the file name. That way, you can always go back and reference a previous version if necessary.
Not only does this help with organization, but it also makes it easier to track down bugs. If you find a bug in a certain file, you can quickly check to see if it has been fixed in a newer version.
Finally, including version numbers in file names is just good practice. It’s a simple way to ensure that your project is well organized and easy to maintain.
8. Add dates to your file names
When you’re working on a project, you will inevitably end up with multiple versions of the same file. For example, you might have “logo.ai” and “logo_v2.ai”.
If you don’t add dates to your file names, it can be difficult to keep track of which version is which. However, if you do add dates, it’s easy to see at a glance which file is the most recent.
Additionally, adding dates to your file names makes it easier to share files with others. For example, if you’re sending a logo to a client, they will know exactly which version they should be using.
Finally, adding dates to your file names helps you stay organized. When you look at a list of files, you can easily see which ones are outdated and can be deleted.
9. Be consistent with capitalization
When you’re working with a team of engineers, it’s important to have a consistent naming convention for your files and folders. This makes it easier for everyone to find what they’re looking for, and it also helps to prevent merge conflicts when multiple people are working on the same project.
If you’re not sure what capitalization scheme to use, go with lowercase letters. This is the most common convention, and it’s also the easiest to type.
Once you’ve decided on a scheme, stick to it. Don’t mix and match between different conventions, as this will only create confusion.
10. Use a cloud storage solution
When you use a cloud storage solution, your files are stored off-site. This means that if something happens to your computer, like a power outage or a hardware failure, your files will still be safe and sound.
Additionally, using a cloud storage solution makes it easy to share files with other people. For example, if you need to share a file with someone who is not in your office, you can simply send them a link to the file, rather than having to physically send them the file.
Finally, using a cloud storage solution makes it easy to access your files from anywhere. For example, if you’re on vacation and you need to access a file, you can simply log into your account and download the file, rather than having to wait until you get back to your office.