To folder or not to folder ... that is the question

The "folders are evil" message has really not been true since SharePoint 2010, when folders gained the ability to automatically add metadata to documents. For intranet sites (communication sites, publishing scenarios), metadata is much easier to collect and can drive a much better search and browse experience. For team sites, where the impact and reach of the site is much narrower, I think folders are probably never going to die - and probably shouldn't given that Teams creates them for you and OneDrive really needs them to organize content offline. Every team needs to decide "how do we want to work together" - including how do we want to store and organize our document assets. I'm all for folders if they aren't nested more than one layer deep - especially if everyone on the team has a shared understanding of what goes where and where to find content. Folders need to be part of your content organization strategy - and so does metadata. This isn't an either-or, it's a both-and. We need to recognize that folders are a metaphor that people are used to - and isn't it better to focus on getting content into shared places where we can get work done rather than adding a barrier that can decrease adoption of team collaboration sites? For intranet content, where adding metadata helps organize content in more meaningful ways for users and content owners can look at adding metadata as a way to reduce phone calls, then metadata is essential. For team collaboration spaces, maybe not so much - unless you need the metadata to trigger a process.