Information Architecture: Notes, Research, Planning

Decided 2026-04-23

The Model

Three modes, kept separate:

ModeContentHome
Planningtasks, projects, who/what/whenplanning repo
Thinkingideas, research, notes, analysisthis repo (rufuspollock.com)
Publishingsame as thinking, deployedthis repo → site

Planning is operational. Notes/garden is intellectual. Don't mix them.

Rules

Seeds and early ideas go here, not in planning. Planning is for actions, not thoughts. A seed is a stub file — one paragraph, maybe a title. Maturity level doesn't determine where something lives.

Publish early and raw. This repo IS the digital garden. If it's here, it's published. No "I'll polish it later" queue — that's how notes rot for years.

This site is the digital garden. One repo, deployed as personal site. All intellectual content lives here from day one.

What Triggered This

Was writing asset management analysis in the Life Itself site repo (next.lifeitself.org). Wrong place — operational code repo, not a thinking repo. Moved it here.

Also had an existing notebook.md in this repo mixing everything together. Goal: consolidate into this structure rather than maintain parallel note systems.

  • notebook — original digital garden, needs consolidating into this structure
  • Asset management analysis → move to this repo under research or ref