Tags + Properties
Classification on the block, not in the spreadsheet next to it.
- You tell a Tag (cross-cutting classification) apart from a Property (structured metadata) and pick the right one for each case. ·· Success criterion: You sort 10 classification cases into Tag or Property without error.
- You replace a hand-maintained status spreadsheet with a Query over block properties. ·· Success criterion: You deliver a Query that fully reproduces an existing Excel list.
- You set up a domain convention for keys and values. ·· Success criterion: You document, per domain, the allowed properties with their value range on a single page.
#wettbewerber, status:: review, source:: bloomberg — classification on the very block that needs it. No spreadsheet alongside.
- Classification time per report: −65%
- Spreadsheet upkeep effort: −80%
- Data consistency source ↔ view: 100%
Why the Excel sheet becomes a second truth
In day-to-day due diligence, content and classification run apart — memos in Word, an Excel register with status, source and competitor sitting next to them. The moment a memo is updated, the register drifts. After 12 weeks you find 18 entries marked “review” whose source text has long read “final”.
5 rules
- Tag = cross-cutting classification. `#wettbewerber`, `#risiko`, `#vendor` — flat, no hierarchy, for views across domains.
- Property = structured metadata. `status:: review`, `quelle:: bloomberg` (quelle:: is the German DSL key for source), `frist:: 2026-06-30` (frist:: = deadline) — key-value, queryable, typed.
- Query = living view. One query over all blocks with `status:: review` replaces the hand-maintained spreadsheet. The result refreshes the moment a block changes.
- Properties on the Page or the block. A Page property holds for the whole document (client, contract type). A block property holds for the statement (the source of a figure, the deadline of a paragraph).
- A convention per domain. Which keys and values are allowed is fixed per domain and versioned — not improvised per person.
## Competitor memo Acme
status:: review
quelle:: bloomberg
frist:: 2026-06-30
Q4 revenue stood at ₹142 crore #wettbewerberBefore and after — Excel list vs. block with status:: review
| Before (Excel alongside) | After (Property on the block) |
|---|---|
| Memo in Word, entry in tracker.xlsx row 47 | The block in the memo carries `status:: review` |
| Status change: open two files, save both | Status change: edit one value, the view refreshes itself |
| Audit question “state as on 2026-04-12?” → reconcile the file history of two files | Audit question “state as on 2026-04-12?” → one version trail, one block |
| Consistency source ↔ view: checkable only by sampling | Consistency source ↔ view: 100% by definition |
The spreadsheet does not vanish — it becomes the Query. Whoever wants to see “all blocks with status:: review and frist:: < 2026-07-01” writes the query once and reads it afresh each day.
An honest question
How often do you maintain content and its spreadsheet separately? Over the current week, count the cases where you changed the same information in two places — once in the document, once in the register.
- Take an existing status spreadsheet from your day-to-day — say a tracker.xlsx with columns for status, source and deadline. Move the classification onto the block in the source document: set status, source and deadline as a Property on each statement, and add one cross-cutting Tag for the view across domains. Then rebuild the spreadsheet as a single Query over all blocks with the same status.⏱ 5 min
💡 Take the column headers of the old spreadsheet straight as your Property keys — one column becomes one key, and the convention stands before you tag the first block.
Model answer: The status column becomes the Property status, the source column becomes the source key, the deadline column becomes the deadline key — each on the block that carries the statement. The competitor reference becomes a flat cross-cutting Tag such as competitor. The old spreadsheet becomes a Query over all blocks with status review, sorted by deadline; the result covers the old list and maintains itself the moment a block changes.
How do a Tag and a Property differ?
What replaces the hand-maintained status spreadsheet?
Why is a domain convention needed?
Classification that maintains itself.
Hang the meaning on the block, not on the spreadsheet alongside. Your second brain holds the status and the source right where the statement sits — a companion, not a second set of books.
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