The Organized Executive

Summarized By Martin Freier

Originally Written By Stephanie Winston
WW Norton & Company New York, London 1994

Stephanie Winston's book is a "how to" reference book for the busy executive trying to take charge of his paperwork, manage his schedule, getting more done in less time, and making the most with the available resources. The book also offers the executive tips for conducting his daily professional life in such a way as to achieve maximum productivity in a manner that is consistent with his long-term goals.

According to Winston, perhaps as many as half of the people that manage paperwork, time, and other people are unsure about how to organize their work in a systematic fashion. As a result, chaos and disorder reign in the workplace. Ultimately, some projects either never get finished, or are behind schedule.

The process of regaining control, therefore, needs to begin by defining what proper organization of work is (and is not). Organization of workflow is a process that may vary from company to company; however, the single most striking favorable characteristic of well-managed companies is the virtual absence of crises. When crises do occur in such companies, they more than likely have the resources to deal with such crises with relative lack of disruption of vital business operations.

Despite the advances offered in today's business world by the computer, Winston considers Paperwork Management as one of the most important aspects with which an executive has to deal with in running a business successfully. There are two actions that can be taken to deal with paperwork effectively:

• Process Paperwork Efficiently
• Streamline Paperwork

Process Paperwork Efficiently

There are those executives or managers who believe that the best way to insure their longevity on the job is to work on a cluttered desk. They believe that by presenting a cluttered desk to the outside world, the powers that be will be impressed by the volume of work that they handle. However, ultimately, those executives are likely to lose their fiefdom because they will have difficulty in performing their tasks efficiently and contribute to a poor bottom line. In fact, their constant search for missing or misplaced information would eventually keep them from concentrating on making timely and effective decisions. But neither is an executive's neatness the hallmark of an effective executive. For example, in one particular company the executive insisted that staffers clear their desk at the end of each day. The only way the staffers could comply with his directive was to typically spend valuable time each day stuffing papers into drawers and then spend an hour every morning retrieving them. Ultimately, there was a predictable drop in their productivity. The key to effective paper management is thus neither a cluttered desk nor a neat desk but one where the paperwork gets processed efficiently.

Processing paperwork efficiently really means that each piece of paper is channeled from the company executive's in-box to its appropriate destination efficiently. Winston recommends that a TRAF Technique for processing paper be used. TRAF is an acronym formed by the words representing the five-step system, "toss," "refer," "act," "file," followed by a "read" half-step.

Indeed, the best way to deal with paper whose value is questionable is to toss it into the nearest trashcan. Most advertising circulars fall into that category and so do weekly reports that are outdated, almost as soon as they are disseminated. However, for those papers that need to be held for a few days, a holding pen appropriately labeled should be reserved. Paperwork that needs careful perusal should be referred by the executive to the specialist for further study and action. Those items requiring immediate action should be placed into the executive's "action" file or box. The remainder of the paperwork pile should be filed, except for those items that require reading time of five or more minutes. To reduce the paperwork buildup, the book recommends the following five-step system:

• Step 1: Sort incoming papers through the TRAF system.
• Step 2: If you use a secretary in processing papers, turn most of the papers back to her with specific instructions on the papers' disposition. Retain those papers requiring your action or further study.
• Step 3: If you chose to handle the papers alone, spend an hour wading through the pile of papers, "TRAFing" and "processing." Handle two or three priority tasks first and then plow through the rest of the pile. Schedule separate blocks of time for those actions which require more attention.
• Step 4: Keep track of any items requiring follow-up with calendar/holding or tickler files.
• Step 5: Perform a quick desk check to assure that all papers have been channeled through the TRAF system.

Streamlining Paperwork

The "paperless office" that is being touted today is still more myth than reality. In fact, the most used piece of equipment in any office are the printers, fax machines, and the copy machines. And yet, as an executive, strive to come as close to that paperless goal as possible, if you want to have a productive office. Even the five-step method described before cannot effectively deal with the sheer quantity of paper still inundating today's business world. Therefore, the book recommends the following pointers for streamlining:

• Reduce the number of incoming reports reaching your desk: The easiest way to deal with those reports you can do without is to either ask to be removed from the distribution list, have the secretary discard them before they reach your desk, or get them referred to the specialist. In certain cases, you may ask for a summary or a specific section instead of the whole report.
• Limit the number of outgoing reports and standardize: Start by eliminating all reports. Blame it all on budget cuts and then re-instate those reports that are definitely required. You can determine what is to be re-instated by the number of complaints you receive after the specific report was eliminated. Try to limit its distribution to only those people who need that information, then limit the frequency of that report issued. Avoid duplication of information by consolidating reports. Reports should be simplified as much as possible. One of the most effective tools for cutting costs is to have the reports standardized into forms, spreadsheets, form letters, or form reports.
• Read as little as possible: Discontinue magazine or newsletter subscriptions you never find the time or patience to read in the first place. Instead, you may want to cut out specific articles from the publications you wish to read. Skim and read indexes or abstracts. Use the TRAF method to deal with the specific articles. Schedule specific time chunks for reading.

Filing

Once papers has been created, there is little else that can be done, other than filing them. Otherwise, you would be better off just trashing it in the first place. Despite the clerical nature of this activity, it can assume immense significance, when trying to locate critical information, such as an eminent client's file. If you cannot locate the information, it might as well not exist. Yet, even in today's world, the files may contain hidden treasures. An effective filing system should allow you to retrieve any paper within three minutes or less, allow adding files without any confusion, and allow clearing out obsolescent files. The following four-step filing system should work wonders:

• Step 1: Have each file and folder comprising the file labeled with a noun description that represents its contents. Each of the files should have as many file subdivisions as needed to make retrieval easy. Then the folders comprising the file/subfile should be filed alphabetically. The folders themselves should be organized so that the most recent items end up on top. Avoid paper clips. Whenever possible, mark a discard date. Files should be appropriately split into those that contain vital data and working files, and those that can be considered storage files. Only the working files should be your immediate concern. All other files should be assigned to be placed outside your office. Furthermore, company vital documents, such as bank account information, insurance policies, and legal documents should be assigned to a vault outside the company in addition to a protected vault on company premises.
• Step 2: The files and folders should be reviewed and reorganized as needed. If the files become too bulky, it is time to reorganize the files rather than keep adding more folders until the files ultimately becomes unmanageable. During this reorganization, discard obsolete documents and reorganize them in such as way that only your own working files are kept within reach. All other files are moved into appropriate areas.
• Step 3: In this step analyze the whole filing system to determine the best way to physically locate each of the files. Those files that are accessed by many organizations should be centrally located, so that your office can remain out of reach. Finally, an elaborate index should be prepared of all the files.
• Step 4: Assign a file monitor to handle all filing, maintain the index, and track the whereabouts of files removed for reference. Maintain files by tossing out files obsoleted or not needed or by moving the files to storage or other areas.

Electronic Files are in many respects similar to the paper media. To toss out a computer file means to delete it. In most cases, if there is a hard copy being retained, there is no reason to retain the same document on the computer. This is especially true when there is a scanner available. It is a very worthwhile project to clean out the disk by removing unwanted files. To start the file deletion project, a complete list of files should be printed out. Since electronic files are known to disappear right before your eyes, it is a good idea to back up your files, (meaning, copy the file onto a floppy disk or magnetic cassette). Label and store the disks or cassettes into file boxes. Electronic files may be referred to someone else by simply e-mailing them or sending a disk copy. Filing on the computer merely consists of organizing the files into specific categories by assigning them into subdirectories and directories.

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Martin Freier is an independent consultant for small business, specializing in developing business plans, in schedules, office procedures and policies, establishing and improving office computer systems and programs, internet for small business, hardware and software configuration management systems, training of personnel. He has an MS from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Engineering/Management Science and Computers. He has an extensive background in engineering management with Fortune 500 Companies.

Copyright © 1996 Martin Freier. All Rights Reserved.

Used by Permission.

mfreier@world.std.com.

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