Introduction

Hello. I am very excited to be able to participate on this forum. Even the self-proclaimed most unorganized people have things that they do in life that help them to be more effective. I encourage you to use this forum to share your tips as well as ask questions. You will not have to do it our way, because we will help you find your way! I look forward to chatting with you.

To Your Success!

Stephanie

Discussion

Posted 05/16/2007 12:39:54 by Melissa

How do you plan the organization of a “file system” when you don’t know the full scope of the system and when multiple people are adding things to the system? We have been using wiki software at work to build a sort of loose handbook or file system of information about work procedures, guidelines and policies. As a new procedure or guideline comes along, it is added to the wiki. But since information comes along in bits and pieces and since any number of people can add the information, the wiki is not well organized and does not really cover the full scope of our work. I’ve read paper management books that talk about how you organize a paper filing system, and these principles are helpful, but they sort of assume that before you start, you already know all the topics that you might cover with your paper filing system. And they also assume that one person is in control of the organizing. Wiki software allows multiple contributors — all with different ideas about how you organize and describe things. Additionally, once you’ve named something in a wiki, it is problematic to change the name of it. Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated.

Posted 05/17/2007 23:29:08 by Stephanie

Melissa, Thank you for your question. Note: For those readers that are not aware of what wiki is, here is a definition from the most well known wiki out there, Wikipedia: A wiki is a website that allows visitors to add, remove, and edit content. A collaborative technology for organizing information on Web sites, the first wiki (WikiWikiWeb) was developed by Ward Cunningham in the mid-1990s. Wikis allow for linking among any number of pages. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for mass collaborative authoring.

Now, back to the question! When multiple people are adding to a body of work at varying intervals, it is difficult to keep control of the process. My first suggestion is that you have a set of standards that everyone posting must adhere to in order to make the documentation usable in the future. Everyone storing information in different ways makes the overall system very difficult to use.

Most wikis offer at least a title search, and sometimes a full-text search. The scalability of the search depends on whether the wiki engine uses a database; indexed database access is necessary for high speed searches on large wikis. Alternatively, external search engines such as Google can sometimes be used on wikis with limited searching functions in order to obtain more precise results. However, a search engine‘s indexes can be very out of date (days, weeks or months) for many websites.

A regular wiki user can view the difference of an edit listed on the “Recent Changes” page and, if it is an unacceptable edit, consult the history, restoring a previous revision; this process is more or less streamlined, depending on the wiki software used. In case unacceptable edits are missed on the “Recent Changes” page, some wiki engines provide additional content control. It can be monitored to ensure that a page, or a set of pages, keeps its quality. A person willing to maintain pages will be warned of modifications to the pages, allowing him or her to verify the validity of new editions quickly.

If your wiki version does not have those types of controls, you might consider software like Paper Tiger where you can create a search-able index of all of the topics on your wiki.

Good luck!

Posted 05/17/2007 23:39:30 by Stephanie

Paper! Paper everywhere! We are surrounded by it. We are overwhelmed by it. Originally, when the Internet first started getting popular, everyone said that we would be paperless in no time. It backfired! We actually have MORE paper now than before the Internet boom. Why is that? Well, many of us (like me) do not like reading long items on the screen, so we print the item off. We also have more access to more information because it is very easy to forward an email to a large list.

What do you do to manage the paper in your life? Please share your successes!

What do you struggle with where paper is concerned? Let us know so that we can help you.

Posted 05/18/2007 10:02:57 by Stephanie

Looking for a great way to find tips that work for the type of person you are? Remember, it is not about what you should do, it is about what you will do!

Go to www.calahansolutions.com/fa_home_tour.htm or www.calahansolutions.com/fa_office_tour.asp for our virtual tours. You will see a home layout and an office layout. You can click on any area of the space and a pop-up window will take you to organizing tips for that area.

Posted 05/22/2007 15:51:45 by Jill Moore

Stephanie, Do you know of a resource to use to organize employees’ requests for time off?

Posted 05/22/2007 16:12:07 by Stephanie

Hello Jill. Thank you for asking. Can you tell me a bit more about your situation? Are you wanting to track for the purpose of scheduling, or general approval? How many employees are you wanting to track? How do they make the requests? The more information you could give me related to your request, the better suggestion I can give.

Posted 05/22/2007 17:40:49 by Stephanie

Instant Access to Electronic Information:

Effective Productivity Solutions Also Address Electronic Clutter

Can you find what you need when you need it on your computer? Do you re-create documents because it is easier than finding the first one you created?

EasyReach: Whether you work at a Fortune 500 company, a small to medium-sized business, or run a business out of your home, vast amounts of electronic information are now part of the typical workspace. “eClutter” affects productivity and increases stress in much the same way that paper clutter does.

Computer disk drives get bigger and bigger, yet they always seem to be full.

We keep files, e-mails, address records, calendar items and to-do’s on desktop computers, laptops, file servers, e-mail servers and even on our cell phones.

The information we need is often needed by others too, so that teams can work effectively.

E-mail and the internet ensure that we continue to accumulate even more information.

Countless hours more are spent shuffling files and e-mails into folders with the hope that they can be found quickly at a later time.

You can waste as much as 25% of your time searching for information that you need to make decisions, complete projects or manage your business.

Well, do I have a solution for you! I use a tool called EasyReach and you get all this time back! EasyReach provides on-demand access to all the information you need to be successful. EasyReach enables you to find, organize, manage and act on your information, even share it with others who need it, within seconds. With EasyReach you are able to:

• Find files and emails from your desktop, a browser, or a BlackBerry, Treo, Windows mobile or Symbian phone.
• Complete projects and tasks more quickly by having instant access to all your personal and corporate files, e-mails, address records and calendar items.
• Drastically reduce the time that you spend organizing your files and e-mails into countless folders with EasyReach’s advanced cross-referencing and customized viewing capabilities.
• Quickly fulfill requests from clients and colleagues so they don’t have to wait for you to find and deliver what they need.
• Securely access your information, even when you are mobile using any smartphone, such as a BlackBerry or Treo; or with any browser, including Mac and Linux.

Spend Less Time Searching For Information, And More Time Working With It .

EasyReach is unlike desktop search tools offered by Google and Yahoo, which focus only on searching for information. EasyReach is a complete solution, backed up by a real-live support team, that not only enables you to find anything instantly, but also organizes your most important information so it is always available.

Contact us to download a free 30-day trial, or visit our site to learn more.

Posted 05/23/2007 13:10:48 by Stephanie

Disorganization Equals Stress (and Cost to Your Business)

Have you ever had one of those days or weeks where nothing goes as you originally planned? Well, if you have, you are not alone.

Studies have shown that people waste as much as 4.3 hours per week searching for papers. In addition, the average North American will be interrupted 73 times a day.

Since it takes 20–30 minutes to transition into deep, critical and creative thought, every interruption causes huge dips in productivity. After a worker is interrupted, it gets worse. Not only do they struggle to get into their creative zone, they lose productivity because they are repeating steps to retrace where they left off. According to a recent study by Basex, the cost is $588 billion a year in the U.S. alone.

Office supply company, Esselte Ltd. conducted a study that reported, disorganization on the job makes people severely stressed. Add to that, 75–90% of all visits to physicians are stress related – and we wonder why all of our health care costs are going up. The survey found:

• 3 out of 4 workers surveyed worldwide agreed with this statement: “I find myself becoming more stressed when everything is a mess and I can’t find important documents when needed.”
• Forty-three percent of the 504 Americans surveyed described themselves as disorganized
• Twenty-one percent have missed crucial work deadlines.
• Nearly half say disorganization causes them to work late at least 2 to 3 times a week.

“Unfortunately, many U.S. workers don’t prioritize getting organized with only 1% regarding filing as an important element of work. In fact, this may be at the root of so many workers facing psychologically toxic conditions in the office. Not surprisingly, lack of organization has meant nearly one-fifth (21%) have missed deadlines.&dsquo;

According to business psychologist Ross DeSimone:

• There are things in our work lives that we feel less comfortable and confident about, so we mask these insecurities by being busy in areas that we do feel comfortable.
• When people feel a time crunch, it can make them more brusque, which can frustrate their co-workers, destroy teamwork, and generally make them not want to help out when that person is in a jam.
• When people feel blue, they lose energy – when they lose energy, they do less, and then they are down on themselves, and that‘s a cycle.

Many people try to break the stream of stress by cleaning off their desk. Sometimes that “cleaning” is taking piles that were on top of the desk and throwing them into a drawer. The top of the workspace now looks good!

Ultimately that behavior only makes matters worse. It is postponing what is really needed to feel in control and stress free — making a change in behavior. Organizing is about finding what you need when you need it. It is about living with a clear set of priorities that make sense for the individual.

If you or your employees are exhibiting stress due to disorganization, take a step back and start looking at the causes of the stress rather than the symptoms. Don‘t know where to start? Follow the tips provided in our virtual office and check out our office products. Take caution in making numerous changes at once. The average person can only work on 3 major changes at once and be successful. Getting organized takes time and a change in habits. When the habits are changed and maintained a feeling of release will happen and open more creative work on the business can begin.

Curious what disorganization is costing you? Use our Cost of Disorganization Calculator to find out!

Posted 05/24/2007 15:40:04 by Stephanie

REMEMBER FAT to DE-CLUTTER!

My husband’s cardiologist would strongly disagree with how I started this article, but hang in there with me and you will see where I am going.

Before you create an organizing plan for your space, evaluate the necessity of removing the backlog. If you have a disaster of an office, you have to get it cleared out and start fresh before you can really make a difference.

Many people get stuck at this point because they get severely overwhelmed with what to do. So many of us were raised with the strategy “only touch a piece of paper once.” That is fine advice if you have systems in place, but horrible if you have piles everywhere. There are decisions to make. If you don’t make these decisions the papers end up in a stack on the other side of the room you are working in.

When you are working with a backlog of items, your brain will work faster if you ask yourself 3 questions at a time. No, I do not mean stacking, stuffing or spreading! That is what we do when we have decided to not decide.

Think FAT! It is probably the only place you will ever hear that FAT is a good thing. So, if you want to remove the fat from your desk, think:

File (information you want to keep for reference)

Act (information you need to take action on or delegate)

Toss (items that no longer belong in the room – recycle, toss, shred, donate, etc.)

By going through your piles using F.A.T. you will process information much faster. Since about 80% of what we keep we never reference again, you may find that you have more in that Toss pile than you anticipated.

Once you have used the FAT system, you can then go back to your File and Act categories and work them down into more simple categories. Think of working in a reverse pyramid.

Posted 05/29/2007 18:11:34 by Stephanie

You’ve made an unusual discovery; there’s not enough time left at the end of the day. The corollary, of course, is your list of important things to do never gets smaller. In any company, the CEO‘s to-do list has the potential to grow infinitely.

You can find a great article on delegation by visiting this site: http://www.biznizportal.com/nationalcity/article.cfm?ID=BA1E7D57–36AD-11D5-BD09–005004E13017