02 · The folders · 40 min
The vault
Two vaults, not one. A short tree. Notes named like a person talks. The teaching vault is what you can show a colleague or a model.
Two vaults, not one
Hospital machine
Stays put. Not synced to a consumer cloud. This is where a draft might still be dangerous. When the teaching point is clear, you rewrite it without identifiers into the other vault. You do not copy the file across.
Teaching vault
De-identified from the first sentence. This is the one Obsidian Sync, a colleague, or an AI project is allowed to see. If you would not put the note on a projector in a closed conference, it is not done yet.
The folder tree
Numbers keep the sort stable when you rename a word. Don't invent a 15 later. Archive a folder instead of nesting forever. Paste this into the teaching vault and create the folders. Empty is fine.
00 Inbox 10 Practice Cases Techniques Complications 20 Research 30 Teaching Talks Video scripts 40 AI Prompts Tool notes Decisions 50 Admin Templates assets _Archive
- 00 Inbox — capture. It should get empty.
- 10 Practice — cases, technique hubs, complications. The part fellows actually need.
- 20 Research — questions, outlines, reading. Not a dump of every PDF you have ever saved.
- 30 Teaching — talks and video scripts, linked back to a technique.
- 40 AI — prompts and a note about what a model got wrong. Judgments live here so you don't relearn them.
- 50 Admin — the boring stuff that is still yours.
- Templates and assets — machinery, not content.
- _Archive — cold storage. Search still finds it. Your eyes don't have to.
Names and properties
Name the file the way you would say it out loud: “Posterior urethroplasty — teaching outline.” Not Untitled 12, not a patient initial, not a date that pins a case.
A property is the small field block at the top of a note. Four is enough: type (case, technique, prompt, video, decision), procedure, status (draft, teaching, published), and phi. In the teaching vault, phi is always none. That line is a promise you can see, not a lock. The lock is that you never typed the identifier.
--- type: case procedure: status: draft phi: none --- # ## The decision One sentence. What was actually in question. ## What you can see Only findings you are willing to teach. No names, MRN, dates of birth, or rare combinations. ## What you did The maneuver, in order. ## What you would do differently Write this while it is still uncomfortable. ## Clip Link the video note. Say what the clip does not show.
--- type: video procedure: status: draft phi: none length: --- # ## Shows ## Does not show ## Decision point ## Narration script ## Export file: preset: web-1080
How notes find each other
The technique note is the hub. Cases link to it. Videos link to it. A talk links to it. A prompt links to the task — “cut a talk to 8 minutes” — not to a model brand. Models change. The task does not.
One canvas per procedure is optional and often better than a 40-page note: indication, setup, the move, the bailout. Keep the canvas dumb. If it needs a legend, it has become decoration.
- Write complications as what failed and what you changed. Not as a diary, and not as a case that can be re-identified.
- A decision note in 40 AI is where you record a confident wrong answer from a model. Future you will not remember the tone, only the fluency.
Handing the setup to a colleague
Send a chapter, not your vault. Ask how much they already know about the tools and about note-taking before you generate a primer for them. Do not assume.
- Write the primer for that one person. Don't name other people you have sent it to, and don't leave a footer about whose notes it was patterned on.
- If you include a terminal command, start from home and cd into the vault folder. Don't assume their terminal is already sitting in the right directory.
- Never attach a vault that might still contain an identifier “just so they can see the structure.” Send the empty tree.
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Questions in this chapter
What folders should a surgeon's vault have?
Short answer
Inbox, practice, research, teaching, AI notes, admin, templates, assets, archive. Number the top level so the sort never depends on clever names.
- Paste the tree from the vault chapter and make the folders, empty.
- Technique notes are hubs. Cases and videos link to them.
- Don't add a new top-level folder because one note feels special. Put it in practice or archive it.
How do I keep patient information out of notes I might show an AI?
Short answer
Rewrite the lesson into a separate teaching vault with the chart closed. Don't copy the hospital note and delete the header.
- Hospital drafts stay on the hospital machine, unsynced.
- The teaching note starts from the template, phi set to none.
- No names, MRNs, dates of birth, faces, or rare story-plus-date combinations.
- If you wouldn't project it, it is not ready for a model.
What goes at the top of a teaching case?
Short answer
The decision, in one sentence, under four properties: type, procedure, status, and phi: none.
- Then what you can see, what you did, and what you would do differently.
- Link the clip and write what the clip does not show.
- Write it the day it happened, from memory.
How do I link a video to a procedure note?
Short answer
The technique note is the hub. The video note links to it, and the technique note links back.
- Use a wikilink with the plain-language title.
- Put Shows and Does not show on the video note so the link isn't just a filename.
- A canvas is optional: indication, setup, move, bailout. No legend.
How should I name files?
Short answer
Plain speech, procedure plus the job of the note. No initials, no case dates, no Untitled.
- Good: “Appendiceal ureteroplasty — bailout.”
- Bad: “Case 4-12 final FINAL.”
- Video files follow the same rule: procedure-maneuver-1080.mp4.
A colleague wants my system. What do I send?
Short answer
One chapter and an empty folder tree. Not your vault. Ask what they already know before you write the primer.
- Write it for that one reader. Don't name other recipients.
- If you include commands, start with cd to their vault. Don't assume the terminal is already there.
- Don't attach notes “so they can see the structure.”
What is a property, and do I need Dataview?
Short answer
A property is a field at the top of the note, like status or procedure. You don't need Dataview until those fields can answer a question you actually ask.
- Use type, procedure, status, and phi.
- Search and the quick switcher cover the first months.
- Add Dataview when you want a list such as every draft video for one procedure.