Creating Office System’s into 2010 Issue II

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”  Antoine de Saint-Exupery 
Let’s finally fulfill one of your top ten New Year’s resolution of “Getting Your Office Organized”. 
It’s no secret. Companies lose thousands, even millions of dollars each year through employee disorganization and stress-induced health issues.
The Productive Environment Process is a proven organizing philosophy, systems, and tools to bring productivity improvement to every individual in a business or organization. The value we represent to our clients is in providing systems that radically change workdays, increase efficiency, free up time, develop peace of mind, and lead to a more stress-free work environment.
The following is Step 2 of creating an Office System. (If you would like to recap on Step 1, please go to Archived Productivity Tips)

Creating an office system is a process and an art form. 
Step 2.  All those papers stacked up on your desk require decisions, as do your computer files and e-mail and voice-mail messages.  But there’s good news!  You only have to make three decisions for every incoming item into your office.  We call it the F.A.T. System. 
                             File It, Act On It, or Toss It

1)File It:  Individual Files or Organization Files
2)Act On It:  Schedule in your calendar, reply to your email, return the voice mail or phone call.  Basic rule:  if it takes 2 minutes or less, then Act On It.
3)Toss It:  Ask yourself:  What is the worst possible scenario if you tossed it.
We have found that the problem isn’t that too much information is flowing into the office-it’s that too little flows out.  Information in many forms gets stuck-and so do we!  The difference between paper shuffling and paper management is decision making.  You can us the FAT System and The Art of Wastebasketry to make decisions to take information from your in-basket-whether that’s a box on your desk or files in your computer-and move it out.  
Step 3.  Next issue:  The Art of Wastebasketry.