Office Organization Tips

Here are some of my office organization tips to help you do better at work.

I like to think my best office organization tips as taking something complicated and simplifying it.

I see this all the time in my work as a Civil Engineer. A lot of engineers spend as much time as possible in making things complicated. I think it is because engineering is a difficult field and it seems right for it to be as difficult as possible. I go the opposite way, I make it simpler. I do everything I can to simplify my work. I am always trying to do things as easily as possible. The job is hard enough without trying to make it more difficult.

I like my way. It is better. I get more work done. My projects flow better. I am able to work on a number of projects simultaneously and make progress on all of them. They get done on time, within the budget and are easier to build.

I spend my work time on the plans not on the part of the job that does not matter so much. What does not matter so much is what you need to find out for whatever type of job you have. That is one of the most important parts of any job, determining what does not matter and concentrating on what does matter. People who have no clue concentrate on what does not matter. When you look at it this way you see why those type of people get hardly anything done.

That is why businesses that are fairly simple can be so financially rewarding for the business owners. It is tremendously difficult to find people who know what matters. If you work at a fast food restaurant it is a very simple thing to understand what matters. Serving the cooked food to the customers. That is what matters.

The second office organization tips is to make an exact copy of whatever your send someone. Making copies sounds like such a simple thing.

It's not.

I just spent an afternoon working like a fool, for someone else. One of the engineer's at my office was laid off due to lack of work, you know, the economy.

I took a call the other day about a project he has been working on. Now I am the one in charge. Anyway, the plans are being reviewed to try to get some final permits in place to build. This is the main part of the job, get the permits to build.

The contractor needs to start working now in order to get the project done enough before winter. The plan reviewer called me to tell me the other engineer had not included some things that they needed to approve the plans.

So I tell the reviewer I will call him back and try to figure out what is going on and what to do. First, I went through the file to look for what the other engineer had sent him. I finally found it at the bottom of the file. First mistake, the latest information should be at the top of the file.

Second, when I found what he had sent the reviewer, he had not made an exact copy of what was sent.

This may be the most important rule for you to learn if you are working at any type of job at all. Always, always, make an exact copy of what you send someone. This will save your career someday.

How can you answer any questions about what you sent if you do not know what it is?

Don't give my any crap about saving paper either.

Do you want to save paper or save your job?

This tip will save you enormous amounts of time and effort over the course of your working life.

Just make a copy of whatever it is you are sending.

The third office organization tips are to file chronologically, which means you keep the latest paperwork at the top of the file. So when you open up the file you see the latest papers. If it is a big file with sides, you file in the same way.

This method of filing is so simple, but so often not used.

The fourth office organization tips are that you are limited in what you can do at work. You have to work within the confines of where you work. You will not normally be able to do things exactly as you would like them.

That is why most organizing ideas are about personal organization, it is easier to make changes in your personal life rather than your work life.

These office organization tips will help you keep your job and do a good job.

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