Attack of the 40-foot Pile

Only 4 inches, really.

I tend to gather papers... But they aren't usually things I want to keep permanently. Vendors, Customers, Schedules have their own place in the file cabinets... I have oddball things: mistakes to be fixed, accounts under analysis, notes on projects in development... I've tried making file folders for them, but it doesn't really make sense. A lot of things, once I record what the problem was and what I did, I really don't need the paper, a scan, maybe.

Here's what I did last night. I have high hopes it will work...
I had an underutilized Desk File/Sorter, one of those blue books with the 31 tabs for days of the month. I took my current pile and sorted it into that, using Post-It notes written in pencil to define the categories. I had some overlap and the result was just 2 Post-It notes leading to the same tab.

When I'm done with something I can decide whether to keep the file permanently.

It isn't as bad as I thought. I'm only up to tab number 10.

Magnum, Inc.

Hey, wow. I just realized I've been at my current job 19 years today. And in all that time, I don't recall that my boss has ever shaved his mustache. You wouldn't either if you were him. It looks great.

Less Paperless

Why we'll never go completely paperless: Because the guy out back with the fork truck and the pen--anything he scratches out and writes on your form is way more important than whatever the computer thought and archived to pdf.