I know, I know, if you NEED to find something you probably could. But I also know that mass of stuff which you accumulate by virtue of doing your job irks you at best. At worst, it makes you feel like you're failing in one crucial aspect of your role as a journalist: to keep the information organised.
This has been me many times throughout my 13 year career and it's been a hard road and a hard lesson to learn: that keeping on top of the mass of information I acquire on a daily basis is crucial in helping me do my job very efficiently, quickly and above all, making me feel confident that I CAN do it well.
So, I thought I would share these hard-won rules with you. Even if you're not a journalist, anyone who amasses paper and information might find this useful. It's a long post, so feel free to scan to the subheading that interests you. Good Luck!
Basic Tenants:
2) What it is about is making sure you can group the information you acquire into one spot. Order it and you order your mind.
3) When in doubt about what subject or topic to file something under - DON'T just file it under a subject that's similar or close enough - you'll never see it again. Find you have something that doesn't go in any of the folders that you have? Start a New Folder. In doubt about whether something fits under an existing folder topic or subject heading? START A NEW FOLDER. Even if there's only one thing in it. If you do this, it means when you come back to it and haven't looked at it in ages, it's easier to make the decision to throw it out simply because you've done the work of catagorising it. If you're at all not sure whether to keep something, throw it in your folder system under a relevant heading and at least it won't be in the way.
4) Labelling is key to this approach. Make the subject headings work for you - you're the one that needs to find this stuff. Make it instinctive and make it make sense to you - not anyone else, not what you think it 'should' be, and certainly nothing that needs to make sense to a stranger. Having said that most labelling is pretty self-explanatory (Eg: Medical Files, Tax Papers, Payslips, Articles, Business, Environment, Obama etc etc)
Loose Paper:
You may have a pile of articles you want to keep - you're worried you might need them again and can't bring yourself to throw them out. Fair enough.
Get an accordion folder. Group the articles under subject headings (whatever works for you, it could be different depending on what field you're in) Write the subjects and stuff each article under each section. Job done. Whatever you do, don't stuff them in a Manilla folder under the heading 'articles to keep'. Trust me, it doesn't work and you'll never look at them again.
Contacts:
So you have a bunch of contacts scrawled on bits of paper, post-it notes or on computer files and in emails. You always planned to enter everything into your contact address book or outlook program, but you haven't quite got there. Meanwhile the business cards have piled up and it's a little out of control.
Forget about centralising all your contacts for now. That's a big job. Get an Address book - old school style. Paste all the contacts written down on bits of papers and on post-it notes under the corresponding alphabetical letter. Bingo, one address book is done. Business Cards? Do the same, either in the same address book or a new one for business cards only. You can get diaries that are just sleeves for business cards. Just make sure you pop them in alphabetical order, or some sort of subject system so that you can find what you're looking for later on.
Email contacts -- just start a new folder called 'contacts' and drop all the emails you had intended to transfer into contacts in that. Don't worry about filling out your Outlook address book. The thing about electronic storage is that it's searchable, so you don't have to put anything in alphabetical order especially when you're short of time - and let's face it, we always are.
The key here though, is to decide what your contact system will be here on in and stick to it. But keep it simple. As soon as you get that email contact, throw it in a folder. Make multiple folders if you want under subjects or letters. As soon as you get that business card - scan it in and email it to yourself - OR - decide you're going to keep a business card contact book. The ideal is to be disciplined enough to put it all in the one place from now on (such as a phone contact book), but keeping it under control is great as well.
Notebooks:
This is a toughie. Notebooks you see, often contain all of the above, which can make them daunting. Never fear though, it's also the reason they're an organisational asset.
The key with a notebook is when you start one - keep using it until it's full. Keep it in your work bag so you're never using a different one. Label the notebook with the year and month and role, and then when it's full, put the end month on it and file it away in a box. So for example, Anna Doe, ABC News, July 2011-->? And when you're done, scrawl the month and year (August 2011).
Make sure you file the notebook away in a box or pocket folder that has other notebooks from the same job and time frame. Don't just throw it in with notebooks from previous eras or for personal use.
As journalists we really should be keeping our notebooks, they're records of conversations, phone calls made etc.. If there are articles trapped in the back that you used at the time - fine. It's relevant to the content in the notebook so just keep it there, rather than filing it away in your articles folder. That way your notebook is a complete record of the story you were working on.
But the contacts: that is a different challenge. Do really make an effort to note down your contacts into your electronic system or book at the end of the day -- don't leave it any later - it'll pile up and you won't do it, or it'll take even longer trying to remember who the hell the person was. Even better to add it to your electronic system throughout the day.
But what about all those contacts scrawled in old notebooks that you've not transferred over. That's a tough one - you have three choices:
1. Cut them out and paste them in your scrap/business card contact book described above.
2. Hold your breath and enter them all electronically (props to you if you can do this)
3. This isn't a solution but - let it go. Chances are you won't remember what half those numbers are anyway. Just make sure you have a year or month label on your notebook or at least what role you were doing so that if you really need to search for an old contact, you know where to look. Then make sure from now on you keep your contacts together in one system - whatever that system is. You might even decide to list all your contacts at the back of your notebook and when the notebook is done, tear out the pages and pop it in a folder.
Computer Files:
Same principle again. New folder. Collection of MP3's from online news sites? Pull into a new folder. Interviews you've done? New Folder. Word documents you've started? New Folder. At it's simplest, just have very basic folders. Put all your word documents in one, all your MP3's that are your work in another. Leave it at that. When you are ready, you will start to isolate them even further and separate out articles you're keeping from your own writing. If not, at least you know where to look when you have to find something.
Again, the key is once you've moved everything into a couple of folders, start the system you WISH you had and stick to it. When you're ready, you will find you'll slowly start to sort the old stuff into the new system.
Flash Drive:
I tend to only keep material on flash drives that I either want a second copy of for backup purposes, or I want to carry around with me (my CV for example).
I would move all the material on the flash drives onto your computer desktop and just throw all the files into the loose folder system described above. Keep anything you want a second copy of/to carry around.
Don't use flash drives as a backup for all your material. There's not enough space so inevitably you will only have bits and pieces on the flash drive. Once you do have the material copied onto your computer, create a proper computer backup or copy all your files across to an external hard drive so you have a proper backing up system.
Emails:
Ahhh yes, the modern scourge and a journalists nightmare. Cure it with the ultra folder treatment.
The trick with emails is to think of it as paper. What did you do with those articles? You threw them in a folder. What did you do with those training papers, job prep notes, story notes and all those things you weren't sure how to catagorise? You created a new folder for any minor subject - no folder was too good for a sub-topic.
It's the same principle with email. Emails on one story? Create a folder for it and drag them all into that. Or if you prefer, emails all from the one country, or from the one department at work, or on the one subject - start a new folder and pop them in. If you're not afraid of starting a new folder for any new sub-topic, you'll find your inbox will stay empty except for things you need to action.
If you find later on that you've started a new folder you didn't need, that you're having trouble finding emails because they're not in a folder with an instinctive label, or that you do want to group things together that you hadn't done before, no problem - you can make the change later.
*Just remember when you label your folders in any of the above scenarios, you need to make the titles work for your brain - not what you think it should mean to a stranger, label it something that works for you.*
At the end of each day or if you have time - as you go through your day - drag emails that are dealt with from your inbox into your sub-folders. If there's a chain of communication - put the last one in a folder because you can see all the communication before hand - and delete anything else. Yup. Delete it. Only keep in your inbox things you still need to action/do something about. NEVER file these away - or you'll never do it! Out of sight is really out off mind when it comes to the Inbox!
But what if I have 1000 emails in my inbox - do I really need to go through and sort it?
No. Don't waste your time. Just drag everything into a folder and call it 'old email' or 2010-2012 and then start your folder system from the last, say, two days of emails, or from that day on. As you get a new email, think about your subject heading, make the folder and drag it in.
*Remember emails are SEARCHABLE. If you're looking for something, you can search the relevant folder, or your old emails folder. If you find you're referring back to a certain old email - pull it out of your old items folder and file it properly.
Ongoing research
If you're working on a project, use the above methods but have a separate ecosystem - like an accordion folder that everything for that project will go in. Articles get filed in a separate folder under that project heading and sub-headings as do all the notebooks - or if you're using your main notebook - tear the relevant pages out and file them away.
Except your contacts. Never separate your contacts if you can help it. Keep that all in the one system as it will mean that anytime, any place, if you want to find that person you spoke to two years ago, you can without digging up your old project folder.
Miscellaneous:
Anything else that comes up along the way - job interview preparation, training etc, follow the same principle, when it's a new topic or when you're in doubt Start A New Folder. Don't be shy or try to save folders, that's when you get into the trap of grouping things to the point that you're just throwing it in with everything and you'll have a hard time finding it.
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Finally, remember if you've not defined your system early on, that's ok. Getting organised is a process and so long as you start doing these basic things, it will make it easier to head towards having all your contacts in your PDA or iphone, or whatever your dream organisational goal is!
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