Staunching The Paper Flow  - Tips For Time Management

If you are like many managers and executives, each day brings a  fresh river of paper to your desk. Some small percentage may be  important enough to require immediate action. Some will require  action, but not immediate action.  Then there is material that  requires no action, but, for one reason or another should be  retained. And, some material will have no value to you  whatsoever. 

The key to effective paper management is to have an organized and  coherent system so that a) important material is not lost or action delayed, and b) unimportant or valueless material does not  take up an inordinate amount of your time. In this article, we  will look at some tips to help you optimize the time you spend  dealing with the paper that crosses your desk. 

Have Your Mail Pre-Categorized 

Most offices process mail by having an administrative/support  employee open/date stamp incoming mail and paper. There is no  reason why the same person cannot pre-sort the mail as it is  opened.  There are several ways to do this.  A rudimentary sort  can be done to separate the material according to its type.   Advertisements/junk mail can be kept together, as can  customer/client correspondence, reports of various types, internal  memos,etc. 

A second method requires more knowledge on the part of the  employee.  When the mail is sorted, it is categorized in terms of  its importance or urgency.  The most critical material is  presented to you on top of the pile, or in a separate file. 

Both pre-categorization methods are designed to reduce the amount  of time you spend sifting through the material, but both methods  require you to spend time explaining to staff what is important  and what is not. Once this is clear, significant time savings can  be achieved. 

Make Some Decision On Each Item 

Your goal is to handle each item once and only once. Routine  paperwork (material that does not require much of your time)  should be dealt with as it is examined. For example, a staff  member needs an extension on a project. On reading the memo, try  to make a decision AT THAT TIME. Either approve the request with  a short note on his/her memo and return to sender, or deny the  request in the same manner. If you require more information,  indicate THAT on the memo and return. 

Even if you can't make a decision on the issue, make a decision  about the memo, and move it off your desk. 

Use The TRAF Technique   

Stephanie Winston, author of The Organized Executive suggests  that there are only four and a half things you can do with paper.  You can Toss, Refer, Act, File or Read (that's the half!).  She suggests that you: 

"Sort all incoming papers through the TRAF system, moving them  from your desk to wastebasket, referral folder, action box, file  box or reading stack." (p.43)    

Some material simply has little or no value to you. Rather than  keeping material on your desk, Toss any valueless material  immediately.  Junk mail might fall into this category, but so  might many For Your Information memos, and other reports that are  sent to you on a regular basis but require no action on your  part. 

There is no need for you to act on each piece of paper that  crosses your desk. Whenever possible Refer to someone else for  action, making sure you provide sufficient information so the  person handling the action knows what you expect. 

Some material requires immediate action.  When you sift through  your paperwork, identify items that you can take action on  immediately, where action will NOT require large investments of  time. Where the action will be time consuming (eg. writing a  report), set the item aside so you can devote proper attention to  it.  It is often useful to schedule the time needed to complete  the required task.  

Material that requires no action but needs to be retained can be  placed in the to file folder. It is a good idea to mark on each  item, a "retain until" date. 

The "half" action is Read. Short items can be read immediately.  Items that will require more than five to ten minutes to read  should be set aside, to be dealt with during your "reading  periods". It may be a good idea to keep two piles of reading  material--items that MUST be read, and items that would be NICE  to read. Anything not falling into one category or the other  should be tossed. 

Eliminate Unnecessary Incoming Items 

Consider the material that you receive on a regular basis. These  may include weekly or monthly reports from staff, other managers,  etc.  Many of these will have little value to you, although some  may need to be retained "just in case".  Ask yourself the  following question for each such item: 

What is the worst thing that can happen if I don't receive or see  this? 

If that worst thing really isn't very terrible (often it's not),  ask to be taken off the distribution list, or have your secretary  (if you have one) gate these out by filing them automatically. 

Reduce Routine Staff Reporting 

Some organizations ask staff to submit regular updates/status  reports to the manager.  Whatever time period you currently use,  ask yourself whether these reports can be submitted less  frequently.  Also, can written reports be replaced by short  verbal updates at staff meetings? 

Keep in mind that time savings here can be multiplied since you  can reduce the time YOU must spend examining such reports, and  reduce the time spend by staff PREPARING reports.