I love it when I come across someone who has a similar philosophy to mine about keeping everything in an orderly way in the office.
So when I found the Time Management Ninja I couldn’t help but explore this web site where Craig Jarrow helps individuals and companies reclaim their time.
Two weeks ago an arson attack on a local school destroyed several classrooms and the library. The school principal mourned the loss of the contents of the library including all the school’s archives. This was particularly poignant with events being planned to celebrate the school’s 125th anniversary later in the year.
If you’ve been following my blog you will know that I am keen to help businesses and government organizations to manage their business documents so they can find the one document they need when they need it. Now! Not half an hour after a crucial business meeting starts, or
Sarah recently gave some advice to a couple of clients and asked me for my thoughts. She suggested that electronic filing is CRUCIALLY about “levels of access” – designing your folder structure around “security clearance levels” works best. So you start by working out what is “confidential inner-management ONLY” (e.g. Strategy & Planning), what is
Testimonials and recommendations – you can’t really go past them as a marketing tool. I’ve been delighted with some I’ve received recently from happy clients.
Here are some excerpts:
“We contracted Terrace Filing Services to assist us to implement an electronic filing system. Judy Owen project managed and did the majority of the work for us to a very high standard. Judy consulted with the team and designed and implemented our new system. The associated documentation and help files was first class and I would unreservedly recommend Judy to any business looking to implement or upgrade their filing systems, documentation or staff training in their filing systems.” Stuart.
“Thank you Judy for your report after visiting my office. I was surprised at the level of detail included and the additional suggestions for things that I hadn’t even considered. I have immediately implemented some of your suggestions and I am enjoying the benefits of them already. I will be implementing more in the near future and look forward to having my office organised, tidy and with everything in a logical place. I would recommend anyone with a home office space to contact Judy for a consultation.” Sandy.
“Thank you for bringing your valuable expertise and care to help our information-intensive business. With years of history and many thousands of files it is easy, even for information professionals like ourselves, to have our files ‘drift’ out of order, and fantastic to have your support as we brought them back into shape.” Sarah.
And just in case you think I only work with people whose names begin with “S”, here’s one more
“Judy came to help me with both my paper files and the electronic ones. Both were a mess! She was quick and clear. It has made such a difference that this year my tax returns were filed early and my accountant was most surprised and pleased. It also meant my refund came through earlier! I can recommend Judy and her systems.” Barbara.
Wow – it’s great to be appreciated.
You can read about more hints and tips to improve your business in my free eBook; and even more if you download the eWorkbook that gives you a full set of instructions on how to set up a filing system that is tailored for your business.
Judy Owen has been working with businesses of all sizes and complexities for more than 20 years to improve and streamline the access to their business information. She and her team can show you how to reduce risk, improve productivity and increase profits with good business systems and processes in your business.
Over recent months I’ve been moving towards a digital office. I no longer print and file invoices that are sent electronically. I scan and store a digital record of invoices that come in the mail. This is going to reduce the space I need to store paper files.
However it raises some interesting challenges. Why? Because I no longer have papers of physical files on my desk that alert me to the need to take some actions. I’ve had to create new workflow processes so that I still do everything I have to do on time.
The workflow starts with email. Anything that needs action is moved to an email folder headed “Action” and highlighted for action on a particular day or time. I’ve created an action board (based on a Kanban Board) that I use to ‘log’ actions in columns headed “To do” “Next” “Doing” and the very satisfying “Done”. This board is on the wall next to my desk so I can move the sticky notes as I take action on the items on the board.
I do print items that I need as working documents, for example if I’m writing a report for a client I prefer to review and annotate on paper before making changes on screen. But at the end of the project the working papers are shredded (and added to the compost bin for my garden). I keep one paper copy of the final report(s) and everything else is stored in my computer system. This system is backed up to the cloud immediately and to a portable hard drive according to a regular backup schedule.
How a digital office works for your business will depend on how you currently work and how you want to work in the future. Other things to consider include:
You will need to be prepared to change the way you work so that actions are taken on time. The long term benefits are very likely to outweigh the short term pain as you make the move in your office. If you have cloud storage then you have access to your documents any time anywhere. So if you leave your office to go to a client and forget a document or critical spreadsheet, you can access your business information from your laptop or even your smart phone.
You can read about more hints and tips to improve your business in my free eBook; and even more if you download the eWorkbook that gives you a full set of instructions on how to set up a filing system that will work for your business.
Judy Owen has been working with businesses of all sizes and complexities for more than 20 years to improve and streamline the access to their business information. She and her team can show you how to reduce risk, improve productivity and increase profits with good business systems and processes in your business.
The email inbox is still the biggest problem for lots of people I work with. The best advice I’ve seen recently about managing your inbox is don’t send email. Really?? How does that work? You simply can’t live without email!
How often do you send an email to say “thanks” for a message sent to you? Is that message really necessary? How often do you receive an email message that simply says “thanks” or “OK”
Your email message generates emails back.
Think carefully about the next email you send. Ask yourself these questions:
Don’t do long email threads. If the email conversation is generating a worthwhile discussion, phone the person, go to their desk/office and talk to them or arrange to go out for a coffee or lunch. If more than one person is involved, arrange a meeting – even if only for a few minutes.
If you need to keep a record of the phone or in person discussion, write a quick note when you get back to my desk and file it. If you need to remember something important from that discussion – say the time and place for another meeting, make a note of it – in a notebook or in your smartphone.
Now you’re not going to stop the emails altogether. And I don’t suggest you do. Email is a very effective way of communicating with other people. But use it sensibly.
Organise the emails you go get into folders so emails like newsletters, social media alerts and such don’t actually reach your inbox. Google has started to do this very effectively with Gmail. Check out this video.
If you don’t use Gmail, it’s worth taking a few minutes to follow the Google’s advice and set up your own folders in the email package you use.
For more information on how to do this go to my blog “Demystify your inbox” and “Good habits around email”
Remember your email inbox is not a filing cabinet
You can contact me for more help or you can read about more hints and tips to improve your business in my free eBook; and even more if you download the eWorkbook that gives you a full set of instructions on how to set up a filing system for your business, including filing emails.
Judy Owen has been working with businesses of all sizes and complexities for more than 20 years to improve and streamline the access to their business information. She and her team can show you how to reduce risk, improve productivity and increase profits with good business systems and processes in your business.
Over the past couple of months I’ve been rather distracted by some family health issues. Of most concern has been my 92-year-old mother whose level of mobility has decreased considerably in recent months and has caused her to become very tired just looking after herself.
She has now moved into a rest home where she is being pampered – breakfast in bed, cups of tea brought to her etc – so she can just rest. She’s loving it and she deserves it.
Mum has had home help and meals delivered for a number of years and recently I was witness to assessment by a social worker about the level of care Mum needed. I was intrigued by the paper work involved.
There was a 10 page “User manual,” a 4 page “User Services Agreement” that included a full page of statements that Mum had to sign to say she understood them and all the information she had been given. Then there were two other pieces of paper with lots of information in such small print that I couldn’t easily read it, let alone my mother!
The social worker was very proud of the fact that she took two hours (instead of the obligatory one hour) to go through all this with her “clients”. However at the end Mum just signed so we could have some peace. Too much information and way too tiring!!
Mum also had another assessment around the same time. Interestingly neither of the people making the assessment picked up that Mum was exhausted and needed rest home care as recommended by her doctor. Yet within a week of these visits, she had collapsed and moved into a rest home.
The moral of this story is that assessments and report writing need to be more than just ticking boxes and spending a certain amount of time on them.
They need to be based on expert evidence, keen observation and getting into the underlying purpose of the assessment, preferably by people who have a good understanding of the situation. In other words, don’t just take what is being said at face value, probe to get behind the words and find out what is really going on.
And don’t keep a record just for the sake of it. I can’t imagine what value there is in the reports on my mother when they didn’t even scratch the surface of the problems she was having.
This applies to any business issue. If you have a problem in our business that you don’t understand, talk to people who have in-depth knowledge of the issue; keep asking questions till you are satisfied that you know how to resolve it; don’t be put off by sweet words, especially from the people who may be at the root of the problem.
Above all don’t write a report and then file it just for the sake of it. Only keep meaningful information about your business. If it doesn’t mean anything to you, then don’t keep it.
You can read about more hints and tips to improve your business in my free eBook; and even more if you download the eWorkbook that gives you a full set of instructions on how to set up a filing system for your business.
Judy Owen has been working with businesses of all sizes and complexities for more than 20 years to improve and streamline the access to their business information. She and her team can show you how to reduce risk, improve productivity and increase profits with good business systems and processes in your business.
As I’ve been searching for inspiration to add to my blog. I ended up searching Google and found some interesting things about record keeping for small businesses.
Firstly I can tell you there is heaps of advice on how to manage your financial records for tax purposes. Just type in “small business record keeping” and you’ll see what I mean. For example
Record keeping for small business – Australian Taxation Office
Record Keeping for Small Business – Omni-Rand Inc.
This is all good and helpful. But there is so much more to managing the information in your business than the financial stuff. That’s important obviously, because if you don’t file your invoices and receipts and you don’t keep track of your finances then you can get into deep trouble – and fast. Oops – its tax time again!
Relying on your accountant is not the answer. Only you know exactly what’s going on in your business and you need to know where you have stored the important information so you can find it when you need to.
But what about your staff – where and how do you store the information about them? Do you keep personal files and employment agreements in a place where this information can’t be seen by anyone not authorised to see it? Do you keep paper files or is it all held in your computer? If you have a flood or fire, or a big earthquake, what will happen to your business information?
Do you have marketing and advertising material? A business plan, health and safety plan for your business? Where and how do you keep all this information?
It’s because there is so little out there to help you keep your business information shipshape that I started writing to help people like you. Check out my earlier blog posts or download my free ebook for more help.
This is a rather belated welcome to 2013. I expected to be back in touch in late January with news of a new self-help web site for business people. My plan was to establish a site where business owners and managers could use instructional workbooks to set up their own filing system to organise their business information. Unfortunately the new web site has been delayed by some development glitches. I still have no date for going live.
However all the self-help material is ready to go. If you are interested and want to start to develop a new filing system for your business, or redesign an existing filing system that isn’t working so well now, then contact me and I can send you the workbooks and details of how to pay.
I have an introductory offer of 50% of the normal retail price of $297.
So if you buy now you can have the package for only $147.
Be in quickly – this offer is for a limited time only.