Week 12 Lab: A System That Does Not Lie

Write a retention and currency policy for one folder you actually own, then apply it and record what you deleted

10 May 2027

Before the session#

Pick one folder you own and are responsible for, not a shared drive, not a hypothetical. It should contain at least one set of near-duplicates you have been avoiding. Bring the list of what is in it.

In the session#

Write the policy first, before touching anything. Three clauses is enough: how the current version is marked so nobody has to infer it, what triggers a version being deleted, and what is kept regardless. Then apply it. Actually delete. A retention policy you have not executed is a document about intentions.

Keep a record of each deletion: what it was, and which clause authorised it. The record is the point of the exercise. It is what turns a cleanup into a decision with an author.

Afterwards#

There will be at least one case your policy cannot decide: a file you cannot classify, or two versions the clauses rank equally. Do not amend the policy to make the case disappear. Write it down as an open case and say what additional information would settle it. That sentence is the most honest artefact this course will ask you to produce.