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[ChairmanPoo]

I divide my people into

- Stewards: farming, cooking, brewing, + as of now all the preparation labors (plant processing, weaving...) but I will pass these last ones to crafters as soon as I have enough of them.
- Crafters: smithing, all the finished goods things (clothesmaking, leatherworking, gem cutting and setting...)
- Masons: digging, carpentry, masonry, stone detailing, architecture, pump operating + as of now furnace operating (which I will give to crafters)

In adittion, I try to keep them hauling items relevant only to their social class.

[twwolfe]

only real segregation i have is planters from everyone else. i keep 1 planter for every 15 dwarves. first time i've had more plants than meat.

[Albedo]

You're talking "mentally"?  As sort of a way to think about them?

By their work areas, and I mean that both conceptually and geographically, because I try to keep those in step with each other.

I have my Growers/Cook/Brewer/food processors/food haulers all orbit around those workshops and stockpiles (which are all essentially either adjacent or as close as possible).

I have my metal-bangers do likewise (tho' harder to segregate specific haulers for this.) 

My masons are special* - I use a modified cross-training approach, so they end up being mason/wood-cutter/wood hauler/plant gatherer/axedwarfs, a permanently armed reserve military and a dedicated "outdoors industry" expeditionary force.

(*in a good way, and, as with all dwarves, in a short-bus way as well.)

And my "miscellaneous" - bowyers, clothiers, etc etc - they're all of a sort.  Then dedicated haulers, any who are truly "no thanks" in terms of attributes and skills.

I also (if/when possible) try to house them appropriately - either near their work or (when not) together in the dorms so I can see at a glance who's off-duty.

[Elliott_Thinas]

I divide them by the possible jobs; I aim to have one of every type of job, including more obscure ones like architects, soap makers and managers. Once I have a large enough fort I try to make it so each dwarf will only have one job to carry out although earlier on there are more obscure mixes, although I tend to try to keep them within professions.

[Winterbrass]

These are my custom professions:
Socialites: Peasants with no hauling duties, for obvious reasons
Labourers: Peasants with hauling duties
Undertakers: Peasants with cleaning/burial duties
Doctors: Animal Training, Animal Care, Healthcare
Guard: Self-explanatory; while not activated, as Socialites
Soldier: As guard
Cooks: Cheesemaking, Butchery, Cooking
Brewers: Brewing, Farming
Millers: Threshing, Milling, Farming
Harvesters: Plant Gathering, Farming
Carvers: Bone Carving, Woodcrafting, Stonecrafting
Watchers: Hunting, Bowyer, Trapping, Fish-related skills
Engravers: Mining, Engraving, Masonry
Architects: Mining, Masonry, Architecture
Technologists: Mining, Mechanics skills, Siege Operation skills
Smiths: Smithing skills, excluding Furnace Operator
Woodburners (for lack of a better name): Wood Burning, Furnace Operator
Alchemists: Glassmaking, Lye Making, Potash Making, Soapmaking
Carpenters: Carpentry, Woodcutting

Home-grown dwarves must max out all social skills as Socialites before they're permitted to have another profession - immigrants immediately go into the grouping that they best fit into.

I find that having Animal Training on my Healthcare specialists massively increases their survivability during sieges, as I do not use the 'Dwarves Stay Indoors' setting for any reason, ever.

I also like having multiple groups with the same skill (Mining, Farming) as even when they have "nothing to do", they still have something to do.

Also, here's a protip for those who have not heard about it yet - if you never want to see tantrums, here's what you do: for the first handful of years, have a single 1x1 meeting area. This causes a huge dwarven doggypile if there are too many of them, as all dwarves who are not doing something will cluster into a 3x3 area and happily have a huge group conversation while prone (ie, lying on top of one another or simply in standing-room only).

This maxes out social skills very, very quickly, and causes a large number of pregnancies. (Dwarves with every social skill maxed are maxed in every attribute. Good for when the Hammerer or the Goblins come a-knockin'.)

Anecdotal observation: With every dwarf being a legendary consoler or a legendary pacifier, less than approximately 5% of your population should ever be less than ecstatic - mine are either perfectly happy all the time, searching for a magma pit or a well to jump into, or dashing their many babies' skulls against pillars in a rage.
[/derail]

[Murphy]

I usually pair related labors, such as farming with plant processing, weaving with clothesmaking, woodcrafting with bone carving, gem cutting with gem setting, carpentry with crossbow-making.
Several dwarves have 3 labors, such as masons/engravers/architects and cooks/brewers/fish cleaners. I tend to let my dungeon master handle the smithing works, as I'm unlikely to lose him (he is always surrounded by dogs, does not go outside to grab some socks, does not get hammered, and it is legitimate to give him a personal legendary dining room).

I also keep a large team of menial workers (about 10% population). Each one has full set of labors that are being done en-masse and do not need high skill - that's butchery, tanning, woodcutting, furnace operating, etc (it depends on map). Also masonry so they help building constructions (workshop profiles prevent them from doing real mason work). Immigrants usually join this team initially.

[Grendus]

I have three 'designations', broken down by specialization of course.

Grunts: These guys are my haulers/plant processors/wood cutters/butchers/tanners/wood burners/furnace operators/whatever. They do all the labors that have no skill modifiers, including masonry for constructions. They also serve as brute military, I've had some success with swarming 50 dwarves armed with their woodsman axes against an enemy squad - not even an injury. These are the have-nots of my fortress, though they live well enough (they get their one meal a month and free hits at the barrel) they get all the crappy jobs.

Soldiers: Full time military. These guys take shifts and do nothing but train and patrol. They're usually lethal in any form of combat, you don't mess with them. These guard the haves, and live well while doing it. Good food, good booze, you get to meet interesting creatures, kill em. Not a bad life overall.

Crafters: These guys are people with useful skill like growing, crafting, smithing, carpentry, etc. The other two designations exist solely to protect and empower this group. These are the haves of my fortress. They live like kings, they have their own bedrooms (!) instead of sleeping in that crummy barracks and often have caged pets or get orders of their favorite food from the caravans. This group is usually my staring seven plus the odd skilled dwarf who arrived with decent skills

[Fedor]

Since I use Dwarf Therapist to manage my dwarves and keep track of skill levels, I don't have to deal with the crappy in-game interface.

This means that I can maximize work efficiency and create high-quality goods, or role-play my dwarves, or promote useful strange moods - all of which argue for a high degree of specialization.

Every adult, non-noble dwarf in my fort is at least "Expert" in Wrestling (except the few who get spine injuries); every immigrant gets trained at the barracks first thing in a strictly weapons-free environment (incoming miners need to drop those picks!) and generally with shields from the start.

I don't maximize social skills because I believe that they should not be giving attribute bonuses and refuse to exploit them until they're better balanced.  This also helps me keep my preferred mayor in office.

When done training, dwarves become specialists in some profession (need for that kind of labor or favorable attributes), or join the military, or become haulers.

Traditionally, about half my population in most forts was specialized or in the military; the other half were haulers.

However, in my recent forts, I have found myself running out of ordinary haulers.  I am constantly dipping into my pool of haulers to replace losses, take advantage of cool attributes, train specialists, prime dwarves for desirable strange moods, bolster the military or train up a militia, or just to boost attributes through pumping, siege operating, etc..

[Rolan7]

After the first or maybe second immigrant wave, I have three types of dwarves:

Haulers: Custom profession "HAULER" or "PEASANT", has all hauling jobs of course, plus non-quality jobs I'm not training a specialist in.  I often give this group masonry, while my only masonry workshop is set to only allow my real mason.

Planters: Often called "GROWTEAM", I only ever have like four of these.  I like to have lots of plants, and four legendary planters produce a *lot* of plants.  Too bad the "brew drink" command keeps cancelling itself.  They only haul corpses and wounded dwarves.

Specialists: Dwarves who do one job and do it well.  Like planters they only have "burial" and "health care" activated.  My engraver is one of these.  I only use one engraver, at least until she's legendary from smoothing and I want to level up other dwarves.

Dwarf Manager really makes this all possible at all, of course.

I'm really looking forward to the burrows stuff because it sounds like I might be able to assign haulers to specific industries or areas, that might reduce a lot of the pathfinding I hope.  I don't know much about it though.

[Doppel]

I try to keep moods, work availability (minimal amount of idlers) and specific jobs (trader, so that when i need them they're there) and job progress regarding experience in mind.

My miners for example are most likely to have butcher and tanning jobs enabled. (still like to keep a separate butcher, tanner)
If i have not much to mine, i give them mason and stone detailing jobs to (again, still like to have dedicated masons and stone detailers)
Carpenters generally don't have a whole lot to do, and generally you really don't need more then one, preferably a legendary one, so my first carpenter will most likely have farming jobs enabled, and when my population grow i have dedicated farmers, brewers, etc,...
The fast growing exp jobs which are moodable, but not that valuable, are mostly packed together, furnace operating, weaving, glassmaking, etc,...
Haulers are most likely peasants and useless mood dwarfs, i don't need more then one dedicated legendary stonecrafter, so all others can haul stone for him. (its better to have one legendary +5 stonecrafter then 5 legendary stonecrafters anyways, same goes for weaving, bonecrafting, etc,...)

[Hyndis]

Peons --- Perform all skills except for metal working, jeweling, and mechanics.

Metalsmiths --- metal skills, no hauling

Jewelers --- jewel cutting/setting, no hauling



While the peons are not very skillful, they will eventually be able to churn out even masterwork crafts at the workshops. I make up for lack of individual quality with quantity, as my workforce is extremely flexible and able to handle any task with great speed.

High value items are all made out of metal, and these are all individually created on demand. Rejects are melted down and remade.

But plant fiber crafts? I don't really care that much for them. I'll just have my army of peons churn out staggering amounts of them in only a few minutes.

[Skorpion]

Categories and sub-categories.

- Miners: A few dwarfs chosen to do the mining. Trained until legendary, and kept on.

- Useful nobility: The mayor/broker/manager/sheriff, and the dungeon master and philosppher.
Usually one dorf, with one or two other labours. My current fort has a sheriff in bed with a broken spine, a mayor who happens to be a hauling grown-up child, and the manager/broker who's a legendary mechanibrewer.
The DM is a legendary furnace operator, and is gradually working up metalcrafting and smithing.

- Foodmakers: A cook or two, or three, a few farmers, and enough brewers to keep the fort swimming in booze. My last fort had a lot of brewers, this one has two, one of whom is the broker.

- Useful Dwarves: Any legendary metal/armoursmiths, the bonecrafters, and a dedicated mechanic or two.

- Military: 4 big squads of champions. Any male migrants with no useful skills, until I felt I had enough. No babies in the line of fire; I don't want bezerk mothers, or children trailing after their mother into combat.

- Guards: Female useless-labour migrants, until the requirement is met.

- Labourers: Everyone else who can work. Animal training, health care, masonry, furnace operation, hauling, carpentry, wood burning, plant processing, dumping, soap making, lye making, potash making... Basically everything where I don't give a shit about quality, I just want it done RIGHT FUCKING NOW, and FAST.

- Dwarfs of Distinction: Anyone who does something significant, like assembling and operating the pumps that stop a flood, or installing critical doors. They normally get a nickname and relief from the more dangerous duties.