Career Q & A
Maximize Your Time for Bottom Line Results
Interview by Robbie Miller Kaplan
author of How to Say It in Your Job Search
We can’t change the number of hours in a day or week but we can
change the way we use our time. Jan Jasper, a productivity expert in the
New York City area and the author of Take Back Your Time: How to Regain Control of Work, Information, and Technology
Q;
How do you properly file electronic documents for easy retrieval? I find
I forget the names assigned to files or I just find it difficult to
locate files quickly.
A: You need a
logical electronic file system with folders and sub-folders. For
example, create a top-level folder for each client or project and
several sub-folders for invoices, correspondence, proposals, etc. Don't
be constrained by the program a file was created in. All Excel files
don't have to be together in an Excel directory. It's better to put
documents, spreadsheets, PDFs, everything related to a given topic into
the same folder. Also, be consistent with how you name your files. For
example, client name, document title, your initials, date revised.
Q;
Instead of scheduling meetings, I frequently take care of business by
e-mail or phone. Are there strategies to make this more efficient?
A: E-mail or
phone 'meetings' are often way more efficient than going to another room
or building to meet face-to-face. But it can be inefficient, too. If you
need to brainstorm, especially with several people, face-to-face has an
energy you just don't get via e-mail; even phone is better than e-mail
for such exchanges. Also, if it's a complicated, or a sticky issue, the
phone is much faster. People often trade endless e-mails for a matter
they could resolve in a fraction of the time via telephone. d effort at the end
of each work day to put everything away.
Q;
My boss is disorganized and doesn’t like to delegate. I have the time to
help but the office is such a mess, I’m unsure how I can best be of
service. Any suggestions?
A: Where it's
hindering your ability to do your job, tell him diplomatically that you
need to put your heads together to see how you can best accomplish the
work, and tactfully lead up to the issue of his disorganization and how
it affects you. Find out what he'd like to delegate, and what degree of
control would make him more comfortable. Work with him on it. Make it
non-threatening and make it clear how your work will benefit and his as
well. How you handle it depends on your relationship and his
personality, too.
Q;
I take my laptop everywhere and convert ‘waiting’ time into productive
work periods. But I’m constantly fishing for pens and it’s difficult to
locate papers and jotted notes. Is there an efficient way to organize
this “movable” office??
A: That's great
that you make your ‘waiting’ time productive. I suggest you reduce the
amount of pencil and paper by putting more stuff into your laptop. The
less paper you handle, the faster you'll work; this is true even if
you're at a big desk with a desktop-type computer. Reducing paper is
even more important when you're 'portable.'
Here are some tips for the paper you must have. Don't write unrelated notes on the same sheet of paper and don't write on the backs of paper so when something's done, you can just file it, assuming you can't discard the paper. The exception is a quick to-do list that can be all on one sheet. But remember, if you start making related notes, for example, client requests, and you put it all on one sheet, then you've got a mess. Here's where putting the information in the laptop in the first place will really pay off. But, for paper you must have, organize into client or project folders.