A filter is useful only when its categories match real browsing intent. The useful question is not whether the idea sounds persuasive. It is whether it helps someone understand the work, make a decision, or complete a task with less friction.
What is happening
Interface categories often mirror a publishing system while visitors think in formats, problems, or outcomes.
This tends to become visible at the boundary between the organization and the person encountering it for the first time. Internal familiarity hides effort that remains obvious to a customer, reader, applicant, or collaborator.
A practical response
Use a small stable set, show the result count, keep the full list available, and avoid hiding entries behind unexplained language.
The aim is a smaller, clearer system: one source for the record, one visible hierarchy, and one next action that behaves as expected. That approach improves the immediate page and makes later application or database work easier to add without rebuilding the public surface.