Documentation
Best practices
Build useful memory
Recommendations that keep information findable, understandable, and transferable after its creator has left.
One canonical memory per Place
Keep historical facts with the Place and reference information belonging to people or companies. Avoid parallel copies with no provenance.
If two records represent the same building, do not merge them manually: canonical merging remains a future capability.
Capture first, enrich later
A short note with the right Place, authorship, date, and visibility is better than an observation that never gets recorded.
Set aside a later review to add relationships, status, a precise title, and supporting documents.
Prefer context to deep structures
Use Cards, dates, and relationships to explain an item. Do not encode the whole world in folder hierarchies or cryptic names.
Group files in one Dossier only when they share visibility and discussion.
Share with the smallest necessary audience
Start with cautious visibility and widen it when information is ready. Always check the active Account before publishing or inviting.
Avoid file-by-file permission exceptions when a Card or Dossier can express the boundary clearly.
Keep originals and provenance
Do not replace an original document with a summary or automated extraction. Connect interpretation to the source supporting it.
When one version corrects another, make the replacement explicit instead of silently erasing the earlier state.
Document decisions, not only outcomes
Record who decided, when, from which sources, and which alternatives were rejected when that matters to the Place's future.
This reduces repeated conversations and helps a new team understand why, not only see the final document.