They Just Keep Piling Up: Paper Management in the Office

You’re on a roll, putting together all the materials you need for a big proposal that has to be turned in by five o’clock. Everything’s going great until it’s time to scan in that handwritten letter from so-and-so. You’re sure it must be at the bottom of the pile on top of the credenza, but it’s not. A frantic search ensues, and an hour later you finally find the letter in a folder you’d thought was empty.

Poor paper management can be a major source of stress at the office, wasting huge amounts of precious time. A few papers thrown carelessly on top of a desk have a way of swelling into process-crippling piles and even, in some cases, to gargantuan oceans that may have serious emotional as well as vocational repercussions. Once your office is thoroughly deluged, you may get into a vicious circle, in which you waste so much time looking for things that you have no time to de-clutter.

Over the years I’ve come to believe that for most of us, simple is best where papers are concerned. Too many people have the idea that some fancy paper management system that takes a whole book to learn will save them from paper problems. Others spend tons of money buying all the right equipment, somehow believing that genuine mahogany file trays come equipped with little hands that will reach out and pull the papers into them. Unfortunately, this is not how it works. The only way to organize papers is to not only set up the simplest possible system for the different types of papers you deal with but also to establish the habits required to keep putting them there day after day. This can take awhile, but most people can manage it if they approach it in phases. Here are some suggestions for dealing with papers:

1. For the first round of paper-organizing, I recommend pioneer organizer Stephanie Winston’s classic “TRAF system.” Get four boxes and label them in large letters with a magic marker: Toss, Refer, Act, and File. The Toss box is your recycle box (you may need an extra box if you deal with confidential materials that you have to shred); the Refer box is for papers that go to someone else besides yourself; the Act box is for papers that require some type of action; the File box is for papers you just need to keep.
2. Once you’ve finished TRAFing all the loose papers in your office, get rid of the Toss and Refer items, then set up a paper-flow system for incoming papers. In today’s fast-paced office environment, this is what I recommend. Get a desk-top sorter from an office supply store, which is simply a box with four cubbies, one on top of the other, put it together, and set it on top of your desk. Set a wire basket on top of it, which makes a fifth cubby. Label the cubbies from top to bottom in large bold type as follows: SUPER-URGENT, URGENT, ACT, HOLD, FILE. To qualify for SUPER-URGENT status, a paper must require action today or something bad will happen. If the bad thing won’t happen until tomorrow, put it in URGENT. If nothing bad is likely to happen anytime soon if you don’t do it, put it in ACT. HOLD is where you put papers that you can’t move along until someone calls you, a certain date arrives, you arrive at a decision, or some other future event occurs. FILE is for the papers you just want to store away. If you try to empty your FILE cubby at the end of every workday, maybe you’ll at least manage to do it once a week.
3. Now get your file folders in shape. Use colored folders even if you have to buy them yourself. Don’t worry about color-coding – just use different colored folders so you can identify them easily, as in “It’s in that yellow folder.”  Print out file folder labels in bold, highly legible 12-pt. Ariel, all caps, with no more words on a label than will fit easily. Poorly labeled files folders – with too much type on them that’s too small to read – are, in my opinion, the number one cause of lost files. If you’ve inherited a big set of poorly labeled files, take the time to replace all the labels with ones you can read – this will pay off!
4. Once your file folders are all nicely labeled, sort them into piles, using two criteria: frequency of use and category of information. Separate out folder groups that you use many times per day from those you use less frequently. Use a desktop tiered vertical sorter for the minute-by-minute files. For example, as I monitor expenses for various grants in my job, I keep a folder for receipts coming in for each grant on top in a vertical sorter on top of my desk. The folders you need a few times per day should be within arms’ reach, perhaps in your desk file-drawer. The rest you should file according to category wherever you have space.
5. Now set up your hanging folders. Print out labels for each category of file folders to stick on white strips and force into the little plastic holders. Attach each holder to the left side of the hanging folder. Place the hanging folders in file drawers and label the drawers so you can read them easily. Then set the file folders inside the hanging folders.
6. Put all the loose papers in your TRAF Act box into your Paper Flow System and file all the papers in your TRAF File box in your new file system. Now all you need to pay attention to is maintenance.
7. Each time you finish a task or put it on hold, put the associated papers into your system. Make sure you ALWAYS do this, which will be difficult if you’re constantly in a hurry. (When people are rushed, what they tend to do is save three seconds not putting this away, four seconds not putting that away, then waste hours digging through paper piles.) At the end of each day, file all the papers in your File cubby and look through all the papers in the other cubbies, making sure they’re in the right places. That’s all you need to do.
8. Purge your files at least once a year during the slow times, assuming there are any. If there aren’t, take half an hour each day and purge a few folders at a time. Get rid of duplicates, out-of-date manuals, early drafts of things, product solicitations, brochures and invitations for events that have already happened, and anything you can easily replace.
9. Break the habit of leaving papers out on your desk to remind yourself to do a task. Instead, write the task on your to-do list (we’ll discuss that in Chapter 12) and put the papers in the appropriate cubby. Take a slow, deep breath as you watch them disappear. Remember: in today’s world, there are few papers that can’t somehow be replaced.
10. In sorting papers, don’t get stuck making decisions. To speed up your decision-making – a skill that’s easier for some people than others --  time yourself when filing and try to beat your record. Purge your paper files at least once a year, when your boss is out of town, or, alternatively, purge one file drawer per month on a rotating basis.
11. Be selective about what you print out and what you deal with only electronically.  Print out things that are really important to give yourself extra protection from loss, but leave everything else in your computer. If paper management is difficult for you, try to move in the direction of a paperless office, though in that case you may need help organizing your hard disk.
12. Don’t be ashamed if you find paper management difficult. It’s like math in that some people have an aptitude for it and some people don’t, and you don’t have to be good at everything.
13. If you have difficulty managing papers on your own, consider hiring a professional organizer to help you. Referrals are available from the National Association of Professional Organizers (http://www.NAPO.net) or the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization (http://www.NSGCD.org). This will not be cheap, but if your job is in danger from paper overwhelm, it may be worth it.

Coming Next: God in the Office: Religion in the Workplace