by Eileen Roth
Figure 15-5: A computer paper holder is easy on your eyesight.
Paper holders
There are three ways to keep your paper in sight while working at the keyboard. An old-fashioned typing stand holds a piece of paper vertically. A newer, more compact version takes up just a few inches of desk space. Even better, clear the desk with a bar that clips right onto your monitor or laptop, as you see in Figure 15-5.
Do you see what I see? The surface of your desk! Whether the sight was long lost or just occasionally crowded out, now you know how to keep your desktop clear all the time. Your desk has become a place to do work. With everything at your fingertips, you get greater results for less effort. That’s what I call a desk for success.
Chapter 16
Managing Your Information Flow
In This Chapter:
Filing that’s easy as A-B-C
Expediting incoming information with W-A-S-T-E
R-A-P-I-Dly sorting your mail
Better than a to-do list: the Take Action File system
Y ou may have noticed that you’re in the Information Age but most people’s information management systems are stuck in the Stone Age. Whether you’re a homemaker or a high-tech whiz, the ongoing assault of information can threaten to disorganize just about anything you do. The way to stay sane and productive amid all the noise is to use some simple techniques to put information to work for you.
This chapter gives you the tools you need to handle all the information that flows your way each day, file the keepers, and free yourself from yesterday’s news. You can dig yourself out from under those piles of papers and prevent them from happening again. It’s a bold promise, but once you discover how to put information in its place, the flow turns from an organizational foe into a very good friend.
The ABCs of Filing
Do you have a stack of papers, magazines, and other informational stuff sitting somewhere awaiting that elusive moment in which you decide where, if anywhere, they belong? Perhaps there are several stacks, strategically located — such as where you open your mail, on your desktop, or all over the dining room table.
If mounds and piles are your usual M.O., let me introduce you to a simple but elegant concept: files. I know that’s a fighting word for some, but set your fear of filing aside. Done right, filing is as easy as A-B-C: activity level, basic tools, and classification and color. Be a filer, not a piler!
The info flow payoff
Studies have shown that people waste as much as 4.3 hours a week just searching for papers. That’s 5.5 weeks a year. Do you really want to spend all that extra time at work? Wouldn’t you rather stop staying late and working weekends by taking control of your information flow?
Then there’s the matter of how much that lost time costs a company. Do the math for a ten-dollar-an-hour clerk:
4.3 hours/weekx$10/hour salary= $43 a week lost
$43/weekx52 weeks= $2,236 a year lost
100 employeesx$2,236= $223,600 wasted payroll
Now do the math for a manager’s salary. How many dollars is smooth information flow worth to you?
Active versus inactive files
What’s the difference between a current project file you pull out five times a day and one containing your tax returns from five years ago? Tons! Fingertip management dictates that only your active files should be taking up valuable space near your valuable self. Totally inactive files, such as old tax returns, belong in shadowy spaces where only auditors would dare to tread. Use Table 16-1 to sort out your active and inactive files and store them in the appropriate location.
Table 16-1Match Files’ Activity Level to Location Frequency of Use Examples Location
Daily to monthly = active Take Action Files, Desk/workstation, file cabinets,
current projects bookcases or shelves, literature
forms, reference rack. Salespeople may keep
them in the car.
Quarterly or less =inactive Past projects, Outside your main office
records, and space, the company’s
archives central filing system, a sec
ondary file area in a home
or small office, or off-site
records company
Using W-A-S-T-E to filter information
Wait! Before you file a piece of paper, ask yourself if that paper is a W-A-S-T-E. All unevaluated information is a waste of time and space. That’s why you need a system for assessing its value on the spot. What’s important and worth saving? What can you let go?
When it comes to information inflow, W-A-S-T-E is a five-step filter that can save you countless hours and acres of space. For each piece of paper that comes your way, ask five simple questions to decide if it’s a keeper or destined for the trash:
Is it Worthwhile? Once you read or scan a piece of information, ask yourself, “Does this add real value to my work, home, or life?” The natural response is, “Well if someone gave or sent it to me, or if I looked up the facts or wrote the report myself, then the information must matter,” but does it really?
Keep: An incoming fax, minutes from a meeting you chaired.
Toss: Incoming fax cover sheet (noting new contact info first), a coupon for a product you rarely use (don’t even clip).
Will I use it Again? This is the big question. No matter how worthwhile a piece of information may be right now, if you won’t use it again, there’s not a reason in the world to keep the excess paper. Read it and say goodbye.
Keep: A memo outlining a new policy or procedure, the outline for a speech you’ll give again.
Toss: A fascinating article about a current political race (read it now or get tomorrow’s update), vacation brochures about somewhere you’ve visited (info can change by your next visit), the program for a conference you attended (note follow-up items in Take Action File).
Can I easily find it Somewhere else? Can your filing system compete with the contents of the Internet? Or the network of libraries connected by an international lending system that can bring you any book or journal you need in hours or days? Or your company’s archives, your colleagues’ files, or the many resources that are just a phone call away? It can’t and it shouldn’t. Information you can easily access somewhere else wastes space and should get the boot.
Keep: The only plain-English description you’ve ever seen of how your office’s phone system works, a glowing letter of recommendation.
Toss: A carbon copy of a memo or report if you have no action to take, anything easily available in the library or on the Web (look there when you need it), a memo about a project that you assigned to one of your staff (forward the memo to that person and note any follow-ups in your Take Action File).
The key word with this question is easily. If you expect to need this information in the future and it would be difficult to retrieve somewhere else, then file it. That’s what files are for.
Will anything happen if I Toss it? Imagine the worst. Would the sky fall down or your capabilities collapse if this paper or file was no longer in your possession? The answer is probably yes if you’re solely responsible for the information, you need it for your daily activities, or it contains important tax or legal implications that someone else isn’t handling. See the upcoming discussion of retention schedules and consult yours to help with the toss question. If the schedule doesn’t require that you retain an item, toss it.
Keep: An easy and economical recipe your family adores, business thank you and recommendation letters you can use as references and testimonials.
Toss: A recipe you clipped a year ago and haven’t tried yet (date recipes as you clip so you know when they should go), personal thank you notes (the gratitude won’t go away with the paper it’s written on), old catalogs and those you never ordered from.
Do I need the Entire item? You can significantly streamline your files by only saving what you need — so break out the scissors and become a clipper. T
oss out repetitive parts of old drafts. If you’re interested in a sidebar from an article, save just that, and perhaps the title page for reference.
Keep: Articles from papers, magazines, and journals, portions of previous drafts that have changed.
Toss: The rest of the periodical, previous draft pages that stay the same, cover memo for the minutes from the meeting you chaired.
What should you put to the W-A-S-T-E test? Every piece of information that crosses your path. As you become proficient with the W-A-S-T-E process, the inflow of info will naturally direct itself to its proper place, in your filing system or in the trash.
Haven’t seen a piece of paper in months, you say? Dealing strictly in e-mails and gigabytes? The W-A-S-T-E principles apply equally to electronic information. See Chapter 17 to learn more about cyberorganization.
The (false) paperless promise
Somebody said that the advent of computers would turn us into a paperless society. Have you noticed how the little devils have had the opposite effect?
Computers enable you to go through many different drafts of a document before reaching final form. A single push of a button prints out five or ten copies of a memo just to be sure everyone knows what’s going on, whether they need to or not. Let’s face it: The combination of people plus computers produces more paper.
People, however, decide whether to keep papers. Put every piece that comes into your possession to the W-A-S-T-E test.
When to clean out files
Good times to clean out your files:
At the close of a project.
When you’re on hold on the phone.
Fifteen minutes a day.
An hour a week.
Retaining and purging files
Purging is the most important step to a power file system. Papers don’t go away on their own accord when they grow old and unimportant. Going through and clearing out the deadweight is up to you. I find that purging files is a formidable task for most people the first time around, but purging gets easier and easier as you polish up your information management skills. Whether you’re starting from scratch or in maintenance mode, you can break the task into manageable chunks with the following steps:
1.Get a records retention schedule. Your company may have its own (check with your legal or accounting department). You can get entire books on record retention from the Association of Records Managers and Administrators’ Web site (www.arma.org). Generally, personal files should be kept for three years and business and tax-related files for seven. Whatever your source, have your retention schedule close at hand as you purge.
2.Start at the front of your first file drawer. Pull out one file at a time and ask the five W-A-S-T-E questions of each piece of paper inside. Remember to consult your retention schedule at the toss question. Throw away everything that doesn’t pass the test.
3.Mark your quitting point. When you run out of time or energy, grab a brightly colored piece of letter-size paper and place the paper vertically in the front of the file where you left off. Now you know just where to start next time — which better be soon.
Here’s a hint to make future file maintenance easier: Each time that you use a filed paper, put a little check mark in the upper right-hand corner. Look for the check at purging time. No mark? If the file is 6 months old or more, chances are that you don’t need this item.
Shred or rip through all documents containing your name and bank or credit card account numbers before throwing them away. Your company may also have a shredding policy for sensitive documents.
Basic tools you need
If you’re a carpenter, you need a hammer and nails, a stud finder, and a leveler. If you work with papers, your tools are binders, folders, hanging files and frames, labels and tabs, and suitable containers to put it all in. I’ve seen many would-be filers foiled simply because they didn’t have the basics they needed to build their system. Assemble your tools before you start so you can file as you organize.
Loose-leaf books: Binders
Binders make the best holders for papers you refer to like a book: procedure and training manuals, computer information, logs, and reference material. Some binder bylaws to keep in mind:
Label the spine. The spine is what you see when the binder sits on the shelf, so you want it to be clearly marked. Choices for labeling the spine range from laser-ready cardboard strips to slide down the spine panel to small self-adhesive spine pockets to making labels on a label maker.
Use dividers with replaceable colored tabs to mark off different sections in the binder. Stay tuned for more on file classification and colors.
Clear sheet protectors can keep pages you use frequently in good shape. Protectors can also hold brochures, business cards, and other odd-size papers. You need dividers wide enough to clear the protectors; look for those labeled for sheet protectors or extra-wide.
Pockets inside the binder’s front and back cover provide a convenient place to put items such as brochures or something you pull out frequently, such as a computer quick-reference card.
File your binders on a bookshelf by category, within fingertip reach of their use.
Keeping it together: File containers
Anything that doesn’t get bound in a binder needs to be filed in a folder inside a hanging file. That’s right — a file that hangs from a frame, not just folders jammed into a box or drawer so the front ones slide down and everything falls out, and retrieving and replacing files runs from hard to impossible. Places to hang files include:
File drawers in a desk or filing cabinet. For drawers that come without built-in hanging rails, you can buy frames in letter or legal size. Beware the cheap two-drawer file cabinets available at many discount and some office supply stores. Fill them up with heavy files, and suddenly the drawers start to jump their tracks. Investing in quality for something so frequently used is worth your while.
Plastic file boxes. These usually have built-in rails for hanging files, letter or legal, and come with a clear cover. Plastic file boxes may or may not have see-through sides. This is a great solution for semi-active home storage of items such as warranties that may be kept in an out-of-the-way place, but need to be easy to access. As pictured in Figure 16-1, plastic file boxes are also a productive investment for salespeople who need to keep a load of literature in the car. Note: While the carryall boxes with handles are fine for a few files, they won’t hold much weight before the handle breaks.
Plastic file crates. Pro: They have rails for hanging, and so are a big improvement over a generic cardboard box. Con: The contents get dusty and crates aren’t nice to look at in the office or home.
Cardboard storage boxes. A cost-effective option for inactive files, most cardboard storage boxes don’t hold hanging files, which means your sys- tem organization can be lost and files are more difficult to retrieve and replace. One brand does have plastic rails that sit in the cardboard edge.
Figure 16-1: Find the right file container for the job.
Don’t hang it just anywhere: Hanging files
With the frames in place, you need file folders to hang there, the ones with metal hooks extending from either side. These serve two purposes: to hold your files vertically and to divide them up by category. You have a few hanging file options, and here are the facts to help you choose.
Standard hanging files are suitable for small file groups — about five folders or less.
Box bottom hanging files have a piece of cardboard in the bottom to keep many files sitting flat, as in a box. Box bottoms come in 1-,2-, 3-, and 4-inch widths. Use two 2-inch files instead of a 4-inch file, which is just too awkward and bulky, but a three-inch is better than the sum of its parts, as hanging files do take up space.
Hanging file tabs are the guides that turn a sea of files into a neatly categorized system. Here, location is key. If you place the tab in back, the folders inside the file can block your view of the tab. Worse, it now takes two steps to fin
d your file: Touch the tab on the back of the hanging file, then pull open the front to find the first folder inside. Instead, put the tab in the front of the hanging file to find your folder fast the first time.
Tough and durable: File folders
File folders are the foundation of your filing system, and, as you can see in Figure 16-2, file folders are not all created equal. Following are the details on the differences.
Two-ply, reinforced, or double top folders (same concept, different brands) should replace all your standard models. Two-ply folders cost a little more, but the reinforced tab that runs across the top of the folder, right where you grab it, can keep folders in good shape longer, saving you the time and money of swapping them out when they bend or tear.
Have you ever noticed the parallel score marks that run along the bottom edge of file folders? This is where you’re supposed to fold the folder to create a flat bottom as your file gets fat. Behold! The papers fit more comfortably in the folder and the front drops down to reveal the labeled tab in back.
File jackets are manila folders with closed sides. Use these for small items that can fall out of regular folders, such as tickets or brochures.