There’s a lot written about David Allen’s Reference Filing System.
There’s also a lot written about a Tickler File
Question 1: Are these two distinctly different filing systems?
There’s also a bit less writing about “project reference materials”. Do these go in the standard reference filing system?
Are my financial files completely separate, or part of one of the above?
What about ownership records? I mean house, vehicles, major appliances? Actually, financial and ownership records are almost my only paper records, the rest being electronic.
Let me explain what I’m doing now, which I think isn’t working.
About 95% of what I call my “Reference Filing system” is computer files. So, on my largest desktop computer which I use as a file server, I have a “Reference” Folder. It worked out well for a while, but then I think I put too much stuff in it.
My work covers a huge variety of fields. Electronics, yes, but that’s huge in itself. Within electronics, I do teaching of computer design, and I do sound system engineering (no overlap), and I plan radio tower installations (nothing in common with the other two). My interactions are more people-driven than technology, so my time is not spent so much at the workbench/design lab, but instead, planning music festivals, helping startup companies get off the ground, etc. My technology background is simply a set of skills/tools I use to get the “people work” done.
So, my reference library is HUGE! 27 folders alone, for documents relating to some of my health conditions. Another 175 with ‘technical’ stuff, like textbooks in PDF form, theory, “how to design this kind of thing”, legal references. Engineering software tools are challenging – they don’t’ get updated often, and frequently, if you install one, it back-dates some of the existing windows files and other apps quit working. So, I install the software, use it, then un-install and restore the machine to an earlier time. I have those software apps in the Refence folder as well, but I don’t think of them as references, but tools. So, their folders are labeled Tool.software. Further, the owner/repair manuals for pieces of test equipment and vehicles – yep, they’re in reference as well. The entire folder has nearly 600 sub-folders.
I tried a naming convention:
Ref.item for genuine reference
Proj.item for files related to a specific project
Arch.item for closed projects, but whose materials may be useful later
Tools.item for things like my spreadsheets that I use for project tracking
Tools.item also for various software utilities that I use, then remove when done
Somehow, I think I haven’t completely sorted this out. What’s a good way to have “only” reference materials in reference? And, what do you think of a separate set of folders for “project reference materials”
As I'm going through 20 years of clutter, I just came across my college transcripts, and a lovely collection of printed programs from jazz concerts I've attended. Reference files also?
My projects may be an afternoon or several years. And I’m never able to predict which of my projects will come back to me – I get inquiries frequently based on papers I published in the late 1980s!
By the way, this is a solo effort…I left the “day job” scene a few years ago, but even then, never had any form of assistant.
Any creative thoughts appreciated!
And, if you read this far, THANK YOU!!!
PNW
There’s also a lot written about a Tickler File
Question 1: Are these two distinctly different filing systems?
There’s also a bit less writing about “project reference materials”. Do these go in the standard reference filing system?
Are my financial files completely separate, or part of one of the above?
What about ownership records? I mean house, vehicles, major appliances? Actually, financial and ownership records are almost my only paper records, the rest being electronic.
Let me explain what I’m doing now, which I think isn’t working.
About 95% of what I call my “Reference Filing system” is computer files. So, on my largest desktop computer which I use as a file server, I have a “Reference” Folder. It worked out well for a while, but then I think I put too much stuff in it.
My work covers a huge variety of fields. Electronics, yes, but that’s huge in itself. Within electronics, I do teaching of computer design, and I do sound system engineering (no overlap), and I plan radio tower installations (nothing in common with the other two). My interactions are more people-driven than technology, so my time is not spent so much at the workbench/design lab, but instead, planning music festivals, helping startup companies get off the ground, etc. My technology background is simply a set of skills/tools I use to get the “people work” done.
So, my reference library is HUGE! 27 folders alone, for documents relating to some of my health conditions. Another 175 with ‘technical’ stuff, like textbooks in PDF form, theory, “how to design this kind of thing”, legal references. Engineering software tools are challenging – they don’t’ get updated often, and frequently, if you install one, it back-dates some of the existing windows files and other apps quit working. So, I install the software, use it, then un-install and restore the machine to an earlier time. I have those software apps in the Refence folder as well, but I don’t think of them as references, but tools. So, their folders are labeled Tool.software. Further, the owner/repair manuals for pieces of test equipment and vehicles – yep, they’re in reference as well. The entire folder has nearly 600 sub-folders.
I tried a naming convention:
Ref.item for genuine reference
Proj.item for files related to a specific project
Arch.item for closed projects, but whose materials may be useful later
Tools.item for things like my spreadsheets that I use for project tracking
Tools.item also for various software utilities that I use, then remove when done
Somehow, I think I haven’t completely sorted this out. What’s a good way to have “only” reference materials in reference? And, what do you think of a separate set of folders for “project reference materials”
As I'm going through 20 years of clutter, I just came across my college transcripts, and a lovely collection of printed programs from jazz concerts I've attended. Reference files also?
My projects may be an afternoon or several years. And I’m never able to predict which of my projects will come back to me – I get inquiries frequently based on papers I published in the late 1980s!
By the way, this is a solo effort…I left the “day job” scene a few years ago, but even then, never had any form of assistant.
Any creative thoughts appreciated!
And, if you read this far, THANK YOU!!!
PNW
