(word processor parameters LM=8, RM=75, TM=2, BM=2) Taken from KeelyNet BBS (214) 324-3501 Sponsored by Vangard Sciences PO BOX 1031 Mesquite, TX 75150 There are ABSOLUTELY NO RESTRICTIONS on duplicating, publishing or distributing the files on KeelyNet! March 14, 1991 FILE_SYS.ASC -------------------------------------------------------------------- This file courtesy of Double Helix BBS at 212 865 7043. -------------------------------------------------------------------- THE WORLD'S BEST FILING SYSTEM by Geoffrey E. Dolbear, PhD (Copyright 1989) Anyone working with facts and ideas, and that includes most writers, learns to be a packrat, storing away notes and articles for future projects. But being a packrat is no good when you can't find what you stashed away. You must adopt some kind of system for storing and finding things, a filing system. I'd like to tell you about the filing system I consider the world's best. I have been collecting articles for over twenty years in my career as an industrial scientist. My collection now totals almost fifteen linear feet, filling two filing cabinets and invading a third. Yet this mountain of paper is so nicely organized that it is rare that I cannot find a needed reference in less than a minute. And now that I'm spending all my "free" time on my freelance writing business at home, I've developed a filing system for those files as well. Before I describe my filing system and how you can make one like it for yourself, let's explore what you should demand from any system which keeps track of your valuable information. What Makes a Filing System Good? A good filing system must meet two criteria: * Savability, providing a place to save everything you want to save, and * Findability, providing a fast and reliable method for finding things later. Anything less is unacceptable. If it's not obvious where to put something, and its not easy to find it afterwards, then saving it wastes effort and space. Both savability and findability depend on a cross reference system, either in the user's head or on paper where it does not need to be remembered when the user is in a hurry. The antithesis of what we are talking about is the "haystack" file. Page 1 This is a stack of folders, letters, memos, photocopies, and magazines. Every large office has at least one haystack, and I have seen several that were more than two feet high. Savability is excellent, since each new item is placed directly on the top of the pile, but findability is terrible because nothing can be found without sifting through everything on the pile. Along with savability and findability comes the requirement that the system keep together things which logic tells us belong together. It would make no sense to file topics like "Audi" and "Volkswagen" at opposite ends of a filing system just because their names begin with a and v. Better to put them together under automobile or German, depending on whether we're mechanics or economists. Then when we build the cross reference system we can include Audi and VW as alphabetical entries pointing to the correct files. Both savability and findability are reduced when the system has too many files which contain too few items. The optimum is one or two dozen items per file. When individual files get much fatter than this, they should be broken into subsections, to allow faster, more convenient searching. BUILDING A PERSONALIZED SYSTEM My filing system is better than just good because it meets an additional important criterion: it's personalized. I tailored its logical structure, sections and subsections, around the kinds of information I save. This is much different than copying the structure out of a book. I began by spending a couple of hours looking over my files, making a list of the labels I found on the folders. Then I put this list into a logical structure using a 1.A.1.a. outline. I like the I.A.1.a. outline because it makes the system both flexible and expendable to deal with new subjects. Since 1977, my seven original headings have grown to nine. Next I reorganized the file folders into this structure. This was a big job and consumed several hours. As I removed each file from its drawer I attached its new outline number using temporary stick-on labels. The files then went back into the drawer in the new order. Over the next six months I used my new system daily, changing it wherever appropriate to increase its utility. When the time came to formalize it, I convinced my boss to allow me to hire a temporary clerk. She was a genuine luxury in a company chronically short on clerical help. In a week she typed and installed permanent labels for all the files, and generated an alphabetical cross reference system in a three ring binder. Page 2 In summary, my filing system was assembled in five steps: 1. Prepare an inventory of existing files, 2. Organize existing titles into trial groups, using the outline format, 3. Rearrange, using temporary labels, 4. Use the system for several months, polishing its structure for ease of use, 5. Install permanent labels and prepare an alphabetical cross reference. Because I was willing to take my time with these steps, the filing system fits my needs like a glove. For a decade it has worked hard for me, helping me store and find the information I need whenever I need it. The well-thumbed cross reference file has been updated twice and is about to need it again. It is so important to everyday use of the files that I would recommend preparing the cross reference when the first rearrangement of the files is completed. In fact, that is just what I did when I set up a filing system for my articles on fly fishing. WRITING FILES One of my freelance writing areas is fly fishing. I have collected what seems like tons of articles, maps, and newsletters. For a while they all fit in a few folders, but the packrat in me ensured that the collection would outgrow its simple beginnings. Applying what I learned from my scientific files, I have also created an efficient system around these files. I was able to use the outlining feature of my word processor to construct the subject outline, a luxury not available ten years ago. For the cross reference index, I made a copy of the outline, copied the outline numbers after each entry, and erased the numbers on the left. Then I went through and added synonyms for several of the entries, and split all paired items so that both entries appeared in the list. Finally I alphabetized the list, polished the formatting, and printed it off. My net investment was two hours one evening. PHYSICAL STRUCTURE As long as it is neat, the physical structure of the filing system is less important than the logical structure. Notes and reprints can be stored in folders, envelopes, or even paper bags, collected in drawers, boxes, baskets and even garbage cans, I suppose. You can spend a little or a lot. I prefer hanging files. Most filing drawers and cabinets allow you to install rods for hanging files, and some even have them built in. Page 3 For my fly fishing files I've purchased the plastic milk crates which are designed for hanging folders. They are convenient and certainly cheaper than good filing cabinets, although right on the verge of expensive. While neatness is inherently pleasing to the eye, that's only its third most important virtue. Second is the ease of using a neat file. First is that the paper saved in a messy system gets messy and harder to use. Something else that keeps a filing system neat is occasional use of the garbage can. An hour spent culling files will produce enough outdated data and unneeded duplicates to generate free space that no filing system seems ever to have. SUMMARY Everyone who collects information for current and future projects eventually faces the prospect of developing some kind of filing system. The truly dedicated packrat soon moves on to the point where even a simple system is inadequate. You'll know you're there the third time you cannot locate a critical item you filed only a few weeks before. If that's happened to you, take the time to reorganize into your own World's Best Filing System. -------------------------------------------------------------------- GEOFF DOLBEAR is an independent writer and consultant doing contract and freelance work with high tech companies. Trained as a physical chemist with degrees from Berkeley and Stanford, he worked in research and development for Fortune 500 companies for more than 20 years. Seven of those years were spent in management assignments. His articles have appeared in several national magazines. He is a regular contributor to the American Chemical Society's prizewinning magazine CHEMTECH and editor for its monthly column "Heartcut". Geoff's scientific work has resulted in over 25 papers and talks, and he is inventor on seven U. S. Patents. He is also a contributor to The World Book Encyclopedia. This article is copyrighted, and permission is hereby granted to use the information in it in your own business. You may also distribute the article to others for free. Geoffrey E. Dolbear, 23050 Aspen Knoll Dr., Diamond Bar, CA 91765; 714-861-8934; CIS 72371,2250. -------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have comments or other information relating to such topics as this paper covers, please upload to KeelyNet or send to the Vangard Sciences address as listed on the first page. Thank you for your consideration, interest and support. Jerry W. Decker.........Ron Barker...........Chuck Henderson Vangard Sciences/KeelyNet -------------------------------------------------------------------- If we can be of service, you may contact Jerry at (214) 324-8741 or Ron at (214) 242-9346 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 4