Contributed by McGhee Productivity Solutions

How much time do you think you spend each day looking for stored documents or e-mail messages? Studies show that on average, people spend up to an hour a day!

How would you like a couple of extra weeks a year? Statistics show that you can reduce the amount of time you spend finding and filing data by as much as 50 minutes a day by having an effective reference system in place.

The purpose of a reference system is to easily file and find personal and business information. This article discusses:

• The difference between reference information and action information
• Organizing a reference system that supports your meaningful objectives
• What information to store where
• What to keep and what to delete

Reference information vs. action information

You'd be surprised how many people confuse reference information and action information. There's an important difference between the two.

• Reference information is material that you don't require to carry out an action but that you want to keep to refer to later. Reference information is stored in your reference system (e-mail reference folders, My Documents folder, company intranet sites, or file cabinets).
• Action information is data that you must have to complete an action; the action cannot be carried out without it. Action information is stored with the action either on your to-do list or on your calendar.

Organizing your reference system

What are the most important activities you want to focus on? It's likely that your most important activities are based on your personal and professional meaningful objectives and the projects that support them. So logically, you'll build your reference system folder structure around these objectives and projects.

Aligning your folder structure with your objectives and projects will support you in focusing on the right things and help ensure that you keep only the material that is truly important to you. For example, if an e-mail message doesn't fit into one of your folders, you'll be reminded to ask yourself why you'd want to store data that does not relate to one of your objectives.

Of course, you probably need a few folders to capture information related to company policies and procedures. It's important to file information about such things as security policies, HR policies, lunch vouchers, company events, retirement plans, stock options, and so on, unless they can be found somewhere else.

Create your folders

The first step is to create a top-level folder for each of your meaningful objectives. Then create a subfolder for each supporting project.

For example, if your meaningful objective is one million dollars in sales revenue from three key clients, you might create a top-level folder called $1M Sales Revenue and then add a subfolder for each of the clients.

Use the same folder structure for all your reference systems

Once your folder structure is established, it's a good idea to use the same hierarchy for all of your reference systems. For example, your e-mail reference system top-level folders should be identical to your My Documents reference system top-level folders. This way, you can find and file information more easily because your brain doesn't have to rethink from one system to another.

Remember, "small things done consistently in strategic places have major impact." Using the same folder names for your folder structure across all of your reference systems is a good example of how to apply that wisdom.

Where to store what information

In the Microsoft Office System, there are many places to store reference information. It's wise to decide which location to use for specific kinds of reference data. For example:

• Use the Microsoft Office Outlook® 2003 Folder List to set up your e-mail reference system, and store e-mail messages there.
• Use the My Documents folder to set up your document reference system, and store documents there (for example, Microsoft Office program files and Portable Document Format [PDF] files).
• Use an intranet site, such as a Microsoft Windows® SharePoint® Services 2.0 site, to set up a collaborative reference system. In this system, store reference information that is shared by multiple users in your group.
• Use a filing cabinet to set up your paper reference system, and store papers there. We're not quite paperless yet!

Using your system

What do you do when you receive an e-mail message with an attached document and you want to keep the document for reference? You have some options:

• If the e-mail message isn't important, just save the document in your My Documents folder reference system and delete the e-mail message.
• If the e-mail message contains important information, save it in your Outlook Folder List e-mail reference system.
• If the document is not meaningful without the e-mail, save both in your e-mail reference system.

Tip  When you can, store documents in your My Documents folder. The search function in your e-mail reference system searches only e-mail items, and not the documents attached to them. The search function in the My Documents folder searches documents.

Where to store your e-mail messages

You can set up your e-mail reference system in a couple of places, and there are advantages and disadvantages to each. Based on your needs and your company policies, you can decide which of the two areas will work best for you.

Mailbox

• Advantages   Typically, your mailbox is on the company server. So if you set up your e-mail reference system in your mailbox, your folders are backed up and stored on the server. If your computer crashes or is stolen, a copy of your e-mail messages is retrievable.
• Disadvantages   Your mail box has limited storage space and your reference folders count against the total. And if you're not connected to the server, you don't have access to your reference folders.

Personal Folders

• Advantages   Your Personal Folders (by default) are stored on your hard disk. If you set up your e-mail reference system under the Personal Folders section, you have no space limits other than your hard disk, and if you're a portable-computer user, you have access to your folders all the time.
• Disadvantages   If your hard disk crashes or your computer is stolen and you haven't backed up your files, your e-mail messages are lost.

What to keep and what to delete

Are you a "keeper," relentlessly holding on to all information? In some cases, you might keep all those messages for that rare occasion when someone asks you for an e-mail message from a year ago, and it feels so rewarding to be able to lay your hands on it. In other cases, it is a simple case of not knowing what decision to make about what to keep or for how long.

A simple test for deciding whether to keep information is to ask yourself these questions:

• Does the information relate to one of your meaningful objectives? If not, delete it.
• Can you find the information somewhere else, such as another department, a SharePoint site, your company intranet, or the Internet? If so, delete it.
• Are you likely to refer to the information in the next six months? If not, delete it.
• Do you have to keep the information because it is legal or human resources information? If not, delete it.

Take time to save time

Making a decision about what to retain and what to discard is important. Not only does storing excess information add to the clutter and clumsiness of your own reference system, it also increases the need for storage space. And in some cases, long-term storage can have legal ramifications. Considering these questions helps you make the right decisions about what to keep and what to discard.

Take the time to set up your reference system so it works for you. You have the opportunity to save almost an hour a day by having a good system in place, and that's exceptional value!

About the author   McGhee Productivity Solutions (MPS) provides consulting and education services designed to increase productivity and quality of life.