#72 taming the beast

Last week, I presented a professional development program following a meeting of the group.  During the break, I overheard a participant asking another what they did with all the paperwork that was generated from the meeting.  She gave him the following advice:  "when I leave the meeting, I leave with two piles; one to recycle and one to keep."  

Her solution works well in the short term.  The problem comes in when the "one to keep" pile keeps growing over the course of a year or two.  My answer:  keep things where you are the source.  

I have all the backup documents and drafts from committees I chair or projects I develop.  I have hardly anything other than the final policy or version of anything else.  Copies of committee minutes, even board minutes, can be obtained from the original source if needed.  Drafts, reports, proposals, budgets, agendas and status updates can all be retrieved elsewhere if the situation warrants.  (And I can count on one hand the number of times that happened!)  

We seem to be a long way from the Utopian paperless society.  Until then, try to manage what you create and recycle the rest.

-- beth triplett
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