Organizing Creative Professionals: Sorted

Got 15 minutes? Get organized! Part I

(This is yet another Inside Business column, but I've broken it into three parts.) It sometimes seems like organizing your work setup is a major undertaking, a project that will require a few hours, at least. And who has that kind of time? Fortunately, you can do a few things in 15 minutes that will make a major impact in how you work.

Option 1: Set filters for your email. 

Your inbox has vital notifications from your manager and co-workers. But it almost certainly also has emails of the company newsletter that you’ve never read, jokes your aunt sends you and even a bit of spam. Using filters can remove the worst offenders from your inbox altogether, eliminating visual clutter, decreasing that sense of overwhelm a full inbox gives you and potentially preventing you from getting the dread “your inbox is over its size limit” email.

If you’re in Outlook, go to the “Tools” menu and select “Rules and Alerts.” If you’re in Gmail, click on “Settings” in the upper right-hand corner, then click on the “Filters” tab. You can set filters based on the source of the email (such as your aunt), the recipients (the whole company), the subject matter (“Funny!”) or the importance level, among others. Some emails can be sent straight to trash, while you might want to create a folder for others so you can read them later.

To eliminate that trickle of spam that still gets by your company’s firewall, spend a couple of minutes unsubscribing from any mailing list that has your name. If it doesn’t have your name, it’s more likely that an unsubscribe request will just trigger more junk mail, so delete it outright.

These 15 minutes will ultimately save you hours in email. Next time: Your physical desk.

Ten steps to more tolerable meetings

This is another column that I've written for Inside Business magazine, with some changes. Since most of you meet with clients rather than co-workers, I've made some adjustments.

Meetings have something of a bad rep in the world of business. They’re often seen as a waste of time and energy and something to be avoided if possible. But not only are meetings necessary to many projects, they can be useful and productive – if they’re managed right.

1. Ask yourself what you want your meeting to accomplish. It could be that a meeting isn’t necessary at all; perhaps a conference call, mass email or posting on a shared site will serve the purpose. But if you want to communicate information to a group, get information from a group, use a group to make a decision or otherwise harness the collective brainpower of a group, a meeting is your best bet.

2. Pick a time. Be aware of the needs and concerns of your attendees. Keep other folks' deadlines in mind and try to schedule around those. Also, avoid times when nobody is likely to be productive, such as Friday afternoon or the very first thing in the morning. (Morning meetings are best scheduled at least 15 minutes after the day’s official start time.)

3. Pick a place. The needs of the attendees also come into play when selecting a place. One of the biggest disruptions to a meeting is the simplest to avoid: not having enough chairs. Make sure there’s enough seating ahead of time so the meeting can begin promptly. Also, make sure there’s a writing surface in the room and working markers for that surface.

4. Write an agenda. The two biggest pitfalls for meetings are not having an agenda, and having an agenda but putting the wrong things first. Your meeting must have an agenda, and that agenda must not begin with housekeeping issues. That may seem counterintuitive; there’s a tendency to start meetings with minor details before delving into the big issues. But if you’re having a meeting to accomplish something, put the most important thing on the agenda first. Better to spend an entire meeting discussing something that’s mission-critical than to spend it discussing how to schedule the next meeting.

5. But don't over-write the agenda. Strive for a middle ground between broad and detailed. If the purpose of your meeting is to make decisions, break agenda items into each separate decision that needs to be made. If the purpose is to give information to or get information from a group, break agenda items into takeaway lessons you wish to impart or questions you wish to ask.

6. Send the agenda out. Distribute your agendas at least 24 hours before the meeting, if the person(s) you're meeting with doesn't have to present or report anything. If attendees are expected to bring or do something, distribute the agenda at least two full working days in advance. If distributing your agenda via email, select “return receipt” to make sure everyone has at least opened the message. Also, bring paper copies to the meeting.

7. Follow the agenda. Once you’ve put all that effort into creating and distributing your agenda, be sure to follow it; otherwise, you’ll lose credibility as a leader and planner. Using the agenda as a blueprint gives you an objective authority in leading your meeting and makes it easier for you to bring meandering conversations back on track. This also shows that you value your clients' time.

8. Write it down. As you move through each item on your agenda, use the writing surface in your space to record the results of each agenda item. Not only does this provide a record that can be used for future reference, it’s a good way to make sure everyone in the meeting understands and agrees with the results. This can prevent those legendary misunderstandings that can happen with clients.

9. Review it. Finish your meeting by reviewing what’s been accomplished. If the meeting has produced any action items or next steps, be sure to record them on the writing surface, including deadlines and responsible parties. Finally, send out a written copy of the results of the meeting to all attendees within 24 hours, while the meeting is still fresh in their minds.

10. What did I leave out? This isn't the actual tenth step; it's an invitation for you to let me know what you'd add to the list in the comments!

What's important... and what isn't

This is in response to Sue, who posted a question a couple weeks ago. First of all, thank you, Sue, for letting me know how I can be of help!! I totally welcome any questions or suggestions for blog posts (and not just for altruistic reasons; sometimes, I just plain run out of stuff to write about!).

Sue's question:

I'd like to hear more about focusing on what's important. I find that given time (sometimes only two weeks) more than 80% of the 'paper work' I've gathered becomes irrelevant.
Ideas about how to accumulate less in the first place would be helpful.

This is a great question in many ways. For one thing, Sue recognizes how much better it is to avoid accumulating stuff than dealing with stuff that's already piled up. Also, this question goes to the heart of paper management: figuring out what you truly need.

Of course, what's important and what you need are both unique to you, your work situation and your goals. But there are two general categories of paper-saving, and knowing which one you're falling into can help pare down a potential paper avalanche.

If you find yourself collecting paper that falls into the "possibility" category ("oh, hey, this sounds like something I might want to do"), one way of reducing the load of paper would be to get really clear about what you truly want, and what your time situation is actually like. 

Every day, dozens of possibilities float into our offices on the wings of paper: seminars, classes, meetings, articles, ideas, etc. And they all sound good, usually because the paper contains the work of a professional copywriter. Plus, if you have a creative bent, you tend to want to say "yes" to possibilities.

But a funny thing happens when you say "yes" to a lot of options: you have to say "no" to yourself. Usually, that takes the form of less time for yourself, less self-care and, at the very least, less space for the stuff that you really want to keep. So while it might seem like you're cutting off possibilities at the root, saying "no" to anything that doesn't immediately captivate you is actually saying "yes" to the value of your time.

If you find yourself collecting paper that falls into the anxiety category ("if I don't hold on to this, I'll find that I need it at the worst possible time"), the best way to reduce that anxiety is to study yourself for a while. Create a designated space such as a bin for every piece of paper you keep for this reason; if the paper has an "expiration date," note that on the paper. Then, every week, go through and remove all the papers it turned out you didn't need.

It sounds like Sue has already done this part and has realized that there's a lot she doesn't need to keep. The next step is to note the patterns and use them to create new rules. For instance, if you keep a certain type of coupon or offer and yet you consistently don't use them, that's a new rule you can institute: I don't use these coupons, so it's okay to get rid of them. 

Each person's rules will be different, and the relevant patterns might not emerge immediately, so you'll want to be extra patient and non-judgmental with yourself during this process. But eventually, you can understand and anticipate your paper needs so well that you can avoid some of your paper pitfalls.

Does this sound helpful? I'm asking Sue in particular, but I also want to hear from everyone else. Let me know in the comments!

Project management and organizing your projects

 One of the classes I took this spring was Project Management, which I loved—possibly because it's so organization-oriented in the first place. Here's a version of a column I wrote for Inside Business about how project management principles can be applied to organizing your desk.

Every project starts with a need. Ideally, there’s not just a need, but a drive, a sense of why you’re doing the project in the first place. If you’ve managed people, you know “it’s what I have to do” is a lousy motivator. Well, that applies to you as well. If you’re organizing your desk because you feel you have to, you’re hobbling your project from the outset. But if you can give yourself a compelling reason and a goal to strive for, that will help keep your project on track.

The first stage of project management is always planning, and a small organizing project is no exception. If you dive into a pile before you know where you ultimately want it to go, you’ll soon be overwhelmed and probably even more disorganized. 

Projects are broken down into work units to keep things manageable. In the case of organizing your desk, the work units would be planning, selecting a file management system, implementing the system, then putting a certain number of files into that system. Breaking down the project not only makes it less daunting, it allows you to track your progress and recognize earlier if things are getting off track.

Breaking the project down into milestones also lets you acknowledge and celebrate each achievement. This might sound silly for such a small undertaking, but you’ve probably seen the positive effects of encouragement on larger teams. Well, the principles of leadership and motivation apply to “teams of one,” too. You’ve also probably seen the negative effects of pressuring a team to complete a project, or threatening or scolding people in the name of getting the job done faster. You know that doesn’t work in the long run, and that applies to you, too. Lead yourself the way you’d lead others.

In every project there’s a certain amount of risk. Projects never work 100% perfectly, and your desk organization project probably won’t, either. Don’t beat yourself up if things don’t go the way you had envisioned them. Instead, approach that risk the way you approach risk in larger projects: build in back-up plans, add in wiggle room, have additional resources on hand.

Project managers match resources and skill sets to the tasks that need performing, and that applies to your project, too. You know your own skill set, limitations and preferences better than anyone. Your desktop project will probably involve a lot of physical labor, so have a friend, admin or intern on hand to help with that (think of it as outsourcing). If there’s an aspect of the project you don’t know much about, don’t be afraid to ask for help or seek advice or coaching from others. Projects frequently involve subject matter experts, after all.

What about you? Are there any project managers out there? (Better still, is anyone looking for a project manager?) Does this ring true to you, and would you add or change anything? Let me know in the comments!

Legs and hands

(I shudder to think about the searches that might lead to this post...)

I recently got an email asking about organizing an L-shaped desk. The person who sent it also had a printer to accommodate on the desktop and was wondering about placing various desk-y items for maximum ergonomic benefit.

For organizing an L-shaped desk, think about which hand is your dominant hand (yes, that again). Then divide your desktop tasks by dominant and nondominant hands. For instance, getting stuff off the printer is a nondominant-hand thing; so is answering the phone. Writing is a dominant-hand thing, while working on the computer involves both hands.

Since an L-shaped desk has a leg for each hand (which sounds really weird, but you know what I mean), you can put the appropriate stuff on the appropriate leg. For instance, if you’re left-handed, put your writing stuff on the left leg of your desk; the printer and your phone can go on the right leg, and the computer can go in the middle, where the legs join.

That sounds a little cumbersome, doesn't it? Here's a visual of it:

 

I put the computer at a 45-degree angle on these illustrations because it involves both hands. Some people love having a computer at that angle; some folks absolutely hate it. If you're one of the latter folks, you are absolutely free (and, in fact, encouraged) to shift the computer to the leg that has less stuff on it so it's facing you directly.

What about you folks out there whose desks have gone to L? (Sorry.) What's your experience been with a desk that has two legs in addition to the usual four? Let me know in the comments! 

How I did it: My car

Throughout the spring semester, I am proud to say, I never once had that unnerving feeling of "Oh, crap, I left my book at home," or the even more unnerving "Dude, where's my parking permit?!" And that wasn't an accident.

Two days a week, I attended classes at a campus 50 miles from my house, and four nights a week, I attended classes at a campus 25 miles from home. (Fortunately, both were in the same direction.) I knew from the outset that I'd be driving a lot, and I recognized the crucial role my car would play in organization as well as good ol' transportation.

I decided that my books would "live" in my car to reduce the chance of leaving one of them at home. If I needed to take a book into the house (or coffee shop) to read and take notes from, I'd consider it a furlough and get the book back into the car as soon as possible. (Sorted principle: Stuff lives where you're likely to need it.)

To hold all seven courses worth of books, I got a backseat car organizer. The product seems geared toward kids, what with the water bottle holders and the rigid top to facilitate game playing. I ignored both those features and used it as a big box that a seat belt could go through. 

Of course, a milk-crate-type box will also work fine, as long as you can get the seat belt through it to hold it in place. If you drive like I do, the last thing you want is a big, heavy object sliding around the car.

I also did a kind of triage in deciding which books would get taken into the business school building from the car. For instance, the book for my Business Law class was one of the heaviest objects I have ever encountered. Seriously, I think they used an aqueous coating made of the remnants of a white dwarf star to coat all 1297 pages.

Therefore, the Business Law book did not get put into my actual bag to attend class. Instead, I read my assigned chapters and took organized notes on them at home, before class. This not only kept me informed and up-to-date; it saved significant wear and tear on my back muscles. (Sorted principle: consider the impact on your comfort and health when determining if you need something.)

Because I treated my car as a sort of backpack on wheels, I always had access to the books I needed when I needed them. Giving my books a designated home ensured that I'd return them to that home. Same thing with my hanging parking permit: it stayed in the little cubbyhole under my radio when it wasn't dangling from my rearview mirror. There was no reason to put it in a bag or even the glove compartment where it might be forgotten. 

Of course, I was fortunate in that I didn't have to share a car with anyone and could essentially use it as a rolling school locker. But hopefully you might find some tips in here to help you use your car as an organizational tool.

What has your experience been with cars and organization? Let me know in the comments!

The spring semester: How I did it

Like I said on Thursday, 18 credit hours in a high-level MBA program is kind of a lot. A lot of reading, a lot of note-taking, a lot of project coordination, a lot of deadlines. (And a lot of driving. Thank God for satellite radio.)

So you might suspect that as an organizational type, I had some magic trick up my sleeve for keeping all my classes and projects organized. Well, I did have an essential tool for managing everything. And there it is, on the right.

Yeah. It's a paper calendar I made in Excel. 

The one at the right covers the half of the semester after Spring Break (on the other side is the pre-Break portion). Basically, I copied all of my assignments—reading, deliverables, meetings, etc.—onto the calendar, made little checks next to every completed task, then marked through the day after it was done. (It was that kind of a semester, I assure you.)

This spectacularly low-tech tool worked so well for me for a number of reasons. For one thing, my schedule didn't vary much from week to week, so I could just note what was due in the general area of a particular class's time, and not have to note what class it was due for.

For another, this calendar was supplemented by a daily to-do list that captured the smaller stuff and outlined the best order in which to do all my tasks. That way, I could keep the overall calendar relatively uncluttered and focused on school obligations.

The main reason I'm showing you my little calendar is to reinforce one of the maxims of Sorted: it doesn't matter what you use, as long as it works for you and you use it consistently. I could've used any number of online, computer-based or professionally designed paper tools to keep track of my semester. But what worked for me was a basic calendar and a bunch of scratch paper.

What humble tools have worked for you in the past? Let me know in the comments!

Coming up for air

Whew!

Well, that turned out to be a much longer break than I had thought. Turns out, 18 hours of graduate-level business courses is kind of a lot at once. My apologies for being absent so long.

I've been so focused on my studies since January that I feel a little lost re-entering the world of productivity and organization. I've been writing my columns for Inside Business throughout the semester, so I haven't been completely MIA, but I haven't exactly been swimming in the waters of Lake Sorted either.

For the rest of the month, I'm going to post about stuff I've learned in on my journey to an MBA. But that'll only take a post or two ;-). So I'd like to throw open the floor for any requests you might have about what you'd like me to write about. Post your requests in the comments and I'll do my best to grant them.

And thanks for your patience!