Design for Information Consumption
Design happens. Whether your aware of it or not, information systems are designed.
More often than not, these systems are designed in an adhoc manner. You start creating and capturing information as needed, and you store that information in files and folders that make sense to you.
But these systems tend to break down as more people are creating, adding and accessing information.
The systems breakdown because of data that doesn't quite fit into the system and/or poor user training that causes the system to fall apart.
Once the system breaks, trust in the system starts to erode and individual workarounds begin to emerge further eroding the system.
The other thing to be careful about is designing a system for every contingency. These systems take a long time to gather requirements, develop and implement.
Frequently, the underlying assumptions of these systems often ship while the system is being developed.
The system needs just enough design and a process for handling exceptions that don't fit in the design. Adding a notes field to a database is not going to work over the long haul.
Think about how the information is going to be used. Think about the information is going to be found and think about whether the information will be useful for the next person needing to use the information.