Okay, so I’ve been messing around with this idea, this name that popped up – Victor Haviland. Wasn’t even sure what it was at first, maybe a person, maybe a concept? Found some really old notes, like, scribbled down, barely readable, talking about a ‘Haviland structure’ for keeping project stuff organized.
My Old Way Was a Mess
Gotta be honest, the way I usually handled my project files was… chaotic. Stuff everywhere. Finding things was always a bit of a treasure hunt, and not the fun kind. So, when I saw these notes mentioning a specific structure, I thought, “What the heck, might as well try it.” Couldn’t be worse than what I had going on, right?
Trying Out This ‘Haviland Structure’
So, I picked a smaller project I was working on. Didn’t want to risk messing up anything major. The notes were kinda vague, but the gist seemed to be about separating things strictly by their type first, then by feature. Like:
- All configuration files together in one main folder.
- All source code files in another.
- All documentation in its own place.
- Then, inside ‘source’, you’d break it down by what part of the project it was for.
Sounds simple, maybe kinda obvious? But the notes were really strict about it. No mixing allowed. I spent an afternoon just moving files around. Made the new folders: `config`, `source`, `docs`, `assets`. Then started dragging and dropping.
Inside `source`, I made subfolders like `user_auth`, `data_processing`, `ui_components`. Moved all the related code files into those. It felt… weirdly satisfying at first. Tidier, for sure.
Did It Actually Work?
Well, yes and no. Finding specific types of files became super easy. Need a config file? Boom, `config` folder. Need docs? Right there in `docs`. That part was good, definitely an improvement.
But, working on a specific feature got a bit annoying sometimes. If a feature needed a config change, some source code update, and maybe new assets, I found myself jumping between those main `config`, `source`, and `assets` folders a lot. The old way, messy as it was, sometimes kept feature-related stuff closer together, even if accidentally.
The strict separation this Haviland structure seemed to push wasn’t always practical for my workflow. I ended up tweaking it a bit. Kept the main folders, but inside `source`, I sometimes group files related to a very specific task together, even if they aren’t strictly the same ‘type’ according to the original vague notes.
Final Thoughts
So, this Victor Haviland thing, or whatever it was based on those notes… wasn’t a magic bullet. But it forced me to actually think about organization. The strict approach didn’t quite fit, but the process of trying it, hitting the annoying parts, and then adjusting it? That was useful. Led me to a hybrid system that’s way better than the chaos I had before. Sometimes you just gotta try something, even if it’s based on some obscure old notes, to figure out what actually works for you. It’s all part of the process, I guess.
