Seeking Tips: Office Improvement - Best Practices

howste

Thaumaturge
Super Moderator
#11
When I was quality manager I was one of those who did "management by piles." I could always find things when people asked for them though. I was forced to get more organized when I started doing consulting/auditing/training though.

My "office" is now a laptop bag and a plastic file box in my truck. Folders of current stuff I'm working on get to stay in my bag. If it's not being worked on this week, it goes in the file box. Older things that I need to keep get filed in the office building I sometimes get to visit (the one with my co-workers that I see once in a while).

I try to get things electronically whenever possible. Electronic filing is much simpler and easier for me - plenty of logical folders on the laptop, and if I can't find it I can always search. :D
 
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#12
Originally posted by howste
---X---
I try to get things electronically whenever possible. Electronic filing is much simpler and easier for me - plenty of logical folders on the laptop, and if I can't find it I can always search. :D
I agree,

Keeping the amount of paper down to the bare minimum is good practice imo (assuming you have the equipment you need for keeping your data reasonably safe, of course).

/Claes
 

TPMB4

Quite Involved in Discussions
#16
A Zombie thread but perhaps worth picking up again.

How have the previous posters got on with their office improvement? Success or still work in progress?

From my POV I found this thread looking for tips on organizing office, filing, electronic filing, etc. Basically improvements to office, way of working and right down to better document control (bringing it right back to the heart of ISO9001). I'm a desk piler. what I mean is I have a pile of stuff for this in one place, a pile of that in another place and so on. I know exactly where everything is even if it doesn't look like it or I take a few minutes to find it. My method of working is really poor I know but it works for me. The key thing for me is I know how I think. I think the same way about the same sorts of things so I know where things are if that makes sense. It is my logic that dictates paper x goes in the left corner of my desk but paper y goes centre right at the back of my desk. It is organization of a kind. Plus I don't have trays as some papers are A3 others A4 so trays don't work as well as stacks for me.
 

TPMB4

Quite Involved in Discussions
#17
Can I just say one more thing?

My reason for bringing this up is because I am trying to get a better way that works with me and my colleagues. I am looking to standardize the paper and electronic filing in my little bit of the organization and am looking for ideas. Being in Quality I feel the need to lead by example (as mentioned better by others here). 5S is my idea and model for this change. It worked in production here and will work in the office and fileserver (our little bit of it at least).

If successful I hope the others will take the system on board too.

My only difficulty is how to write a plan up for filing system that works for paper and electronic files. That works across departments. That makes it easy to find stuff. Do you file by project, customer, part type, document type? In my mind there are very many different ways of creating the filing hierarchy that I just can't decide which is best. Daft to get stumped by something so simple.

Then once the system is designed I would implement locally at least. Also I believe in a clean desk policy. By that I think at the end of the day you should leave your desk devoid of clutter. Perhaps just a computer, stationary holder (pens, pencils, etc.) and your clean mug (we all have our own, favourite caffeine holder I will wager). All files you are working on or will work on or needs filing will be filed away, stored in a set drawer for use tomorrow or disposed of as appropriate. I understand for data security reasons some employers actually make it a rule that files are locked away at night and desks are left plain. I once worked in such a place. It was actually agony for me!!!:mg:
 
K

kgott

#19
Here I go again... I'd like you to consider this angle:

Most of the time we try to improve the workshops, but how about ourselves? We have been discussing continual improvement and preventive action to fare the well.. How about our own desks (I presume that most of us have one), bookshelves, cabinets, PC's et all? Are we projecting the image we would like to, or....?

  • Our desks? Paper avalanche hazard areas?
  • Bookshelves and cabinets? Are they full of stuff we "may need some day"?
  • Our computers? Can we find what we need without searching for hours? Hundreds of unread mails waiting for us? When was the last time we gave our PC's a house cleaning?

Well, you see what I'm getting at: Hints, ideas, good and bad examples and so on...

Discuss...

/Claes
To draw conclusions on appearances can be misleading. Some people are just naturally clean and tidy and others vary right through to opposite. Then again perception carries a lot of weight. I am one of those who is more quite untidy than tidy and I have a good clean up once in a while.

How important is in an office situation? Depends on risk of injury to people, risk of potential damage to the management system and risk to the customer.

Are clean and tidy people better than untidy people? Depends on organisational and personal values I suppose.
 
#20
A Zombie thread but perhaps worth picking up again.
Wow... 10 years!
How have the previous posters got on with their office improvement? Success or still work in progress?
Reasonable success and work in progress as far as I am concerned: We took up 5S in the office, and to be honest we botched it a bit by being too rigid and too focused on the red tape. Not uncommon, but there it is. The bloke in charge of the effort simply fired up the engine, took off, and ended up missing the station by about a mile. :rolleyes: Still: It paid off anyway. Even if we dropped back a bit when he left, we did not drop all the way back, and so we have acheived a marked improvement.

Personally, I have been practicing it on a personal level for the last 25 years, because I felt the need to do it, not because I was told to. That in itself is probably the main factor making it work for me. Thus, when Office 5S finally came our way, I changed absolutely nothing, as I was already way ahead of the objectives.

I have no in tray on my desk: I ask people to send me things digitally, and when I do get papers they do not survive for long: If it is something I need to keep, I scan it and toss the paper copy.

Before you ask: No, this does not take time. Instead, it saves me massive amounts of time, but it may not work as well for others, as this is my way of working, suited to my needs, and set up by myself. We are all different, and I would never try to enforce my setup on somebody else.

Exchanging tricks, tips and good ideas here is a different matter. Let's do it: A lot has happened since this thread was started. :D

Good link, Harry. Thank's. :agree:

To draw conclusions on appearances can be misleading.
Indeed, and this is why I am disinclined to set any hard and fast rules in cases like this. A good exchange of ideas on the other hand...:agree1:

/Claes
 
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