Document Hygiene: Naming Rules That Save Our Week
If your file is named 'Final_Final_v7_Jens_Edit', you look like an amateur. Naming conventions are not OCD; they are User Interface.
The “Which One is It?” Panic
It is Thursday night. The Partner is screaming for the Valuation Model. He is on a call with the Bankers. “Paolo, send me the file!”
I look at the shared drive. It looks like a bomb went off. The team has been saving files with their initials, with random dates, with words like “Latest” and “Updated.”
I have to open three different Excel sheets to check the timestamp inside the cells. The Partner waits. The Bankers wait. The silence is deafening.
This friction is avoidable. “Ugly” refers to your process, not just your slides. If your backend is messy, your delivery will be slow.
The Friction: The Lie of “Final”
The word “Final” should be banned from the consulting vocabulary.
Nothing is final until it is signed.
When you name a file Project_Alpha_Final, you are guaranteeing that 10 minutes later you will need to create Project_Alpha_Final_v2.
This creates Cognitive Load. The client receives the file. They save it. Then you send another one. Now they have two. They get confused. They look at the old one. They get angry.
Mamma mia. We are supposed to bring order to chaos, not add more chaos.
The Accelerator: The ISO Standard
We implement a Strict Taxonomy. This is not optional. This is law.
The Rule: [YYYY-MM-DD]_[Category]_[Descriptor]_[Status]
Example:
Bad: Financials New.xls
Good: 2025-07-22_FinModel_SeriesA_v04.xls
Why this works:
- Sorting: Computers sort by date automatically if you use YYYY-MM-DD. The most recent file is always at the bottom. Logic.
- Searchability: I can search “FinModel” and find every iteration instantly.
- Accountability: If the status is
DRAFT, the client knows not to sign it. If it isEXECUTION_COPY, they know it is locked.
And crucially: The Single Source of Truth.
In our Deal Room, we do not let the client see the version history. We upload the new file on top of the old one using the platform’s versioning engine.
The filename in the portal is clean: Series_A_Financial_Model.
Behind the scenes? We have the audit trail. On the front end? Simplicity.
Clean names equal clear thinking. Do not let a lazy filename destroy your credibility. Assolutamente.
FAQs
Why do I need a date in the filename?
Because 'Final' is a lie. Dates are facts. '2025-10-12' tells me exactly when this existed.
My team thinks this is micromanagement.
It is not micromanagement; it is safety. Tell them: 'If I can't find the file, I can't sell the work.'
What about version numbers?
Keep them internal. The client should only ever see one version: The current one.