systems-thinking

How I turned my tag soup into a map

Eli Kent

03 Aug 2025 — 1 min read

TL;DR: I had no clear tagging system for my blog posts — just scattered labels with no structure. By grouping tags into buckets like Domain, Focus Area, and Tool, I built a system that not only organizes my posts but also reflects my mental model of computer science.

The Problem

I had no system for tagging my posts. The result was scattershot: inconsistent labels that failed to organize content or convey a clear narrative.

What I Did

Creating a structured tagging system turned out to be a far more involved project than I expected. While I describe the process below, it's worth noting that it was iterative, not linear — a back-and-forth of defining, testing, and refining.

My first task was to clarify my tagging philosophy. I decided to group tags into buckets — loose families of related concepts that felt similar in weight and purpose:

The top-level bucket describes the provenance and objective of the post. Is it a deep dive into theory? A log of a lab session? An anecdote from my personal life?
The middle three buckets — Domains, Focus Areas, and Tools — are arranged in a rough hierarchy: broad discipline → recurring subject → concrete technology.
The final bucket captures the tone of the post. Is it narrative? Reflective? Comic?

As the structure took shape, I wrote clear descriptions for each tag, sharpened those that were vague, merged overlapping ones, and discarded what no longer fit.

In the process, I didn’t just build a more coherent system for organizing my blog — I clarified the mental map of the computer science universe I’m navigating, and the skills I’m building along the way.

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