Office Organization

Three Categories - Let’s start by classifying organization into three major
categories. These are office organization, personal organization and computer
organization. Steps to help you improve your time management skills follow each
classification. This part deals with office organization.

Office Organization – some believe that an office needs to have a place for
everything and everything should be in its place. While that may be ideal for some, it
may be unrealistic for others. Office organization has a lot to do with your work style.

Reaching What You Need - The important thing is to be able to reach anything
you need promptly. Notice that the word I used was reach and not find. It should not
be necessary to conduct a search for things that you need on a regular basis.

Neatness is helpful but can become a disturbing obsession that can actually distract
from good organization. Carrying either neatness or messiness to extremes will make
organization more difficult. A little clutter may actually contribute to better
organization if it makes your daily work easier.

Easy to Understand - Unless you always work completely alone, your system of
organization should be reasonably easy for others to understand. For example, both
paper and data files should be labeled in a comprehensive manner. Code letters and
words that only you understand make it almost impossible for anyone else to assist
with your work.

Workstation Organization - Organize your workstation with everything you
need for your everyday tasks readily available. Comfort is a definite consideration.
Computer, keyboard and mouse are important tools for most of us so they must be
set up for ease of use. I work in an environment with more than eighty workstations
and many of them are obviously uncomfortable. Yet, people continue to use them
without making the few minor changes that would help them to be more effective and
comfortable.

File Cabinets - Organize your file cabinets with everything clearly labeled so you
can find things you seldom need. When a specific file is needed two years after it was
first used, good labeling and careful filing will avoid loss of time.

Cabinets - Organize any cabinets or shelves so that everything in them can be seen
and identified quickly. Some storage cabinets are such a mess that it takes hours of
moving things around to find and grasp whatever someone needs.