
Introduction
Nice to have you with us again for another episode of Digital 4 Productivity and another chapter, the fourth chapter of the book “Using digital tools effectively”. In this podcast, we go through the key impulses and ideas of this book.
And today it’s all about structuring your digital file storage.
Digital file storage from then and now
Yes, and on the subject of structuring your digital file storage. Of course, there’s another “Do you remember that?” Everything came by post. In multiple copies and, like the outgoing offers and orders, was filed neatly in huge filing cabinets or hanging files. Unfortunately, the shares were usually not there at the time. And let’s turn on the light, because it’s slowly getting a little darker here. And I hope you too will see the light when you see these topics. Of course, when you hear me in the car, you say, what’s he saying about light? But that’s exactly the idea here in the video and of course it should hopefully shed some light on the content.
Yes, in neatly organized, huge filing cabinets, and unfortunately the files were usually not where they were needed. Either they were in the folder in the office when you were on the road, or the customer called and wanted to know something. And the colleague just had the folder with them in the home office. Some of us then created a hand file for current topics so that they were always to hand. At some point, however, even the pilot cases became too small for this hand file and you couldn’t find anything quickly. I know what I’m talking about. I have two Rimowa pilot cases.
Fortunately, we have digitalization today. You can find all of your offers in the Sent folder on your PC and all email attachments are even available on your tablet and smartphone. If only there weren’t so many search results. Ah, hello Mr. Bremer, your order. Yes, just a moment, I’ll quickly look up the offer. No problem. I’ve also saved it as a file. Hm. You know what? I’ll call you right back. Somehow there are now hundreds of files in this folder. Somehow, digitization doesn’t seem to be the solution either.
Yes, there used to be filing cabinets, today there are folders. The good thing about filing cabinets was that they were self-limiting systems. I still remember my first boss showing me the cabinet I had at my disposal. And it was such a small, half-width element. And there was only one compartment free. And then my boss said, yes, this compartment is your cupboard area. Then I said yes, what if the… So firstly, only the one compartment, yes. Secondly, what if the shelf is full, he said, then throw away everything you don’t need. And I got on well with this system for a few years. So if I look now, if you look, I used to have a file folder, I used to have a filing cabinet, today I have 128,000 search results. And of course the searchers are getting better and better. But at the latest when you get too many search results, then it’s time to think about a sensible structure. And above all, it’s time to simply delete things consistently. Because I saw such a nice photo on Facebook a few years ago. Vacation photos 2000, it starts with vacation photos 1987. 36 pictures. Eight were beautiful. Vacation photos 2022. 2436 pictures. Eight were beautiful. Do we have more beautiful photos? No. Can’t we find any more? Yup. That’s exactly the issue, because in doing so – and there was once a nice article in Die Zeit – we unfortunately also forget in some way to unlearn decisions, to make decisions.
The main problems with digital file storage
So what are the main problems from my point of view? For one thing, we have a lot of photos and documents together and we simply don’t delete them for fear of being able to use them again later. And then we somehow file it all away and so ideally everyone has it for themselves and then you have it in several places, sometimes twice for yourself and then of course several times in the team. Yes, and then there’s also the question of whether I always have to say thank you digitally. Do I need all the status and interim emails? Most of the time, we need far less than we keep. And I always hear, yes, you have to archive things for legal reasons.
Yes, but if you have this topic of the Olympic discipline of e-mail ping-pong, for example, experience shows that you always have the complete status of a case in the last e-mail. And if you don’t delete the previous ones, you even increase the risk of having a non-conclusive result point and then you may make a wrong decision because you haven’t found the current status. This happens much more often.
Problem no. 1
In other words, problem one: we delete our data far too rarely. So here, too, we are simply forgetting how to really make decisions, because in the past, when you went on vacation, you took three or four films with you. Today, yes, as long as the memory isn’t full, it’s not an issue at all. But then at some point the problem is, when the memory is full, then the problem becomes really big, because then you can no longer get through. In other words, the problem is simply ignored for a long time until it is so big that you can no longer manage it using sensible methods. In other words, it simply becomes more and more tedious when the hard disk is simply full and you get a huge amount of search results. And if I look now, of course AI helps, artificial intelligence, when human intelligence stops. Well. Joking aside. A combination of both is certainly not wrong. So that’s why it’s very, very important to say delete. And what you also often have is that (you simply) often don’t delete because you don’t know where to put what? What should I delete? How do I document the fact that I don’t have a proper system?
Problem no. 2
And that’s why, and this is the second major issue, we don’t have a sensible and well thought-out filing system. If you take a look at the IT department, I’d say it’s well known, even in accounting. Nobody would think of working without a filing plan. It is structured exactly what is filed and posted and where. And it makes sense to work in the same way in other areas too.
Problem no. 3
Yes, point number three. We simply don’t think long-term. So this means that when you have ex-customers, when you’re at the end of a project, you simply don’t think in advance about what documents you need at the end of a project. As a rule, I don’t need any intermediate steps, but I do need result documents and I may need some that I can use as templates for other projects. In other words, the main issues are that we delete our digital data too rarely, we don’t have a well-thought-out filing system and we don’t think long-term when it comes to file storage.
Solutions to the three main problems
Yes, what is the solution for number one? Delete, delete, delete. And one rule that I would like to give you is really this topic 1 – 2. For me, this topic of filing used to be a one-way street, both for emails and documents. In the meantime, I’ve gotten into the habit of taking a quick look at the moment I file an item in a subfolder and deleting two items from this subfolder. And this subfolder can be an e-mail folder, can be a paper folder, can be a file storage folder. And if you do that, it won’t become more, but less. And most of the time you can, that means you send something to someone, you send it out, you get a reply. Yes, then you can delete what you sent out, you can delete what you had in the waiting folder. In other words, you create a system for this. So therefore 1 – 2, a very, very good rule. Another good idea that has arisen from the issue of vacation absences is that we have mail forwarded to us.
Dropscan
There is also a provider called Dropscan, where you can have your paper mail digitized and then receive it in digital form. It’s also totally stress-free and you can also pre-sort and process it using rules or an assistant. So that’s why, when I look at paper documents, the remaining few that stay with me, there are three options for me. Either the basic folder or the recycle bin.
Hand tray
Point number two, I have a ten-subject folder, a hand-held file that I need for current topics. So I write on it with a cover sheet, I write on it with a pencil. So it’s quicker to erase things with an eraser than to always print a new cover sheet. So sometimes paper makes perfect sense. Or otherwise just scan them with my double-sided feed scanner, which I’ve had on my desk for a long time. And there are very few documents, such as the social security card, which you have to keep in the original. Otherwise, pretty much everything is scanned digitally. And if the place burns down, what else can I save? The few photo albums that I haven’t scanned. Everything else is digital. Yes, solution number two Ideally, you should create a filing system that works for you. It doesn’t have to be the same for everyone in the company, but it should at least be coordinated in teams or projects where people work together. This means that if someone is on vacation, if someone is ill or if you file things together, you have agreed on a common structure.
A single folder usually doesn’t make sense, because there is the so-called WIP limit, work in progress, which comes from Kanban, which says that there shouldn’t be more in a folder than you can see at a glance without scrolling. And you usually can’t do that if you only have one folder. And to be honest, I’ve never met anyone who didn’t have subfolders and didn’t have this 128,000 item problem and then 28,000 search results. So I’m happy to be proven wrong. I haven’t experienced it yet.
Standardized folder structure
Yes, then ideally the structure should be as uniform as possible across all systems. So if you have a structure with customers, prospects, finance, marketing, production, if you have the same structure in both the file storage system and in the e-mail, then you can find things much more easily. Yes, then perhaps another tip is that I like to have a folder for each day of the week. My assistant can put things in there that I need on certain days of the week, things that I need for meetings, things that I might want to do on the train that day. A folder for waiting is always a good idea, so that I know there are things in there that I’m still waiting for a reply to, for example. Yes, and then of course the filing folders depend on your area of responsibility. In other words, you can organize them by project, by customer, by employee, by supplier, by subsidiary, to name just a few examples. Yes, another idea is to organize according to groups and areas of life. I think I introduced this for myself 20 years ago. LIFE – performance, me, family and friends and development and to say performance and development and family and friends and me. And these four things are the topmost structure for me and then all the lower documents are organized underneath.
Yes, it is simply important that even when you are working in new systems, you ideally always make sure that you work with the same structure. Yes, if you say you don’t have a long-term mindset, it’s a good idea to think about the end at the beginning. And that’s especially true when it comes to projects. It’s a good idea to say, for example, that there are folders for results documents, process documents and interim results. And if I now say that I have lots of intermediate statuses that I just move into an intermediate status folder, then I know that I can simply delete this folder completely at the end of the project. Because otherwise I would have to go through every single email every time, do I still need it here, do I not need it. And what usually happens is that they are not deleted and I have X number of intermediate statuses. If you create subfolders from the outset, where you already know when you put them in, okay, at the end of a milestone, at the end of a project, I no longer need this folder, you can simply delete it afterwards. So that’s why the idea here is and of course the world is not black and white, it’s gray, but think about where it might make sense for you to use it. It works very, very well for me. And ideally, you should also have a central project repository, so that not everyone has their own repository, but that you have something central where everyone can access it, ideally synchronized. So of course I also have an idea.
Use Kanban tools
Yes, then there’s also the idea of combining the whole thing with Kanban tools such as the Planner in Microsoft 365, so that you can say, as you do in the Scrum structure, I have a backlog, I have things that are being done in the current sprint. I say things that are in progress, that are done, where there may be things that are still pending approval, things that are done. Yes, that also means once again on the subject of file folders. In other words, the fear of saying, wait a minute, I’ve lost things. Most systems have a recycle bin and Microsoft 365, for example, has very good versioning. This means that you can always go to the file manager and right-click on versioning, version history, and then you can go back to previous versions. And if you say online announcements, you will see a recycle bin, which is usually 30 days back and then there is usually a final recycle bin for 180 days. So you can also find things again this way.
Using document management systems
Yes, two major areas where I would say that if you have them, you should ideally use a document management system, if you have a document management system, you often have a document management system in the tax consultancy sector, with DATEV, for example, which does a lot for you, or Atruvia systems in the banking sector. Here, of course, there are always leading systems where everything is documented for the customer. If there are such leading systems, these things should always be documented. Ideally, they should then be removed from the e-mail so that they are not redundant. Sometimes I find that if you don’t have access to these document management systems on mobile devices, you still leave them redundantly in Outlook. That’s why a major criterion for me when deciding on such systems is that they are ideally also available natively as an app on mobile devices. Then I can do without having to store them redundantly because a system is not synchronized. This often results in redundancies, simply because certain systems are not available locally and cannot be synchronized offline. And I don’t think that’s a good idea. The same applies to CRM systems. With Daylight, for example, I have a CRM system that can also be used as an app on all my end devices. That means I have an interface in my email program where I can say please transfer this to my CRM, but not everything, only the things I need from the customer, everything else is deleted immediately. So that’s also why I use e-mail. The moment I send an e-mail, I immediately go into the Sent folder, either assign it to a customer if I need it, move it to a subfolder such as Waiting or to the day of the week, or I delete it completely. Why is it often not filed or not deleted because you don’t know where to file it? And that’s why it’s important to create a system.
Use CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system
Yes, keyword CRM. Here it is also very important that you ideally have a system that has many interfaces. I’ll name a few that are important from my experience. Firstly, social media platforms such as LinkedIn. This means that if I have a new contact on LinkedIn, it is automatically created in my CRM system and vice versa. I can also steal images from the social media system into the CRM system, for example. I can also see which messages have been sent in these areas.
Card services
Yes, then card services. For example, if you say I have an appointment in Munich, then you can display all the customers who are in Munich and then I can try to make more appointments there. Yes, newsletter systems are also very important. Ideally, when someone subscribes to a newsletter, they should also be automatically entered in your CRM system so that these systems don’t diverge.
Invoicing systems
Yes, invoicing systems – in my case Fastbill. This means that if I have a customer for whom I need to write an invoice, I simply transfer it from the CRM system, have it immediately in my invoicing system and can see in my CRM system how much turnover I have made with the customer and which invoices may still be outstanding.
Telephone system
Yes, then telephone system. I have a landline phone here in the office. This means that when I make an outgoing call here, I simply say make a call in my CRM system and then the thing dials for me. It always sounds like that, yes, it’s a bit freaky, it’s a bit convenient.
Yes, but you can make a lot more calls if you don’t have to dial every time. Save time and make more contacts.
Online form system
Yes, and online form system to collect information. So that’s another idea. Yes, CRM systems should ideally be shared within the team, i.e. something about a customer should be stored centrally and everyone should have access to it.
Summary of the top 10 tips
Yes, so last-but-not-least so the top 10 tips from chapter 4. Before you file a document, always check what would happen if you deleted it. And most of the time, it’s not that bad. Next tip – When you file a document, always delete at least two documents from the folder that you no longer need. If you find it difficult to delete documents, use a paper header on a trial basis, which you delete regularly every six or twelve months. Create a filing plan like an accounting system and document it in writing. Ideally, of course, as a team. If you don’t want to sort folders alphabetically, add a sequential number to the beginning of the folder name. Ideally, always with a full zero, i.e. zero one to zero nine ninety, because otherwise, if you have an eleven there, the 11 comes before the 2. That always doesn’t make much sense. Yes, in projects you should divide the filing from start and result and process documents and in intermediate states and drag frequently used folders into the favorites and quick accesses. Use categories and tags to have documents quickly to hand. And if you work with a document management system, it must be usable on all your systems.
Yes, and ideally store customer-related files in a CRM system. Yes, so much for the topic of the document graveyard really becoming a document treasure, so that you always have access to your documents. And as you can see, the chapters are of course always connected.
Conclusion
By the way, I’m always happy to receive comments and queries, and of course I’m also happy to answer any questions you may have about this chapter. If you have the book, I’ll include it in the show notes, there’s also a chatbot. Then you can go to digital tools, book at the back as a subdomain on my site, you can also ask the chatbot about all these topics. With this in mind, I look forward to seeing you again next week when we talk about how you can become even more productive with digitalization.
Until then, good luck.
Yours, Thorsten Jekel.
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