Tech Productivity Issue #144 (Designing Better File Organization)

Issue #144 (Designing Better File Organization) 11/15/21

In the "Articles..." section below, there's a lengthy piece discussing electronic file organization and how typical systems are not as efficient as they could be. But what about physical files (paper documents, et al)? Well, a Hacker News reader posed that very question: How do you manage your personal documents?

Many of you are probably not too concerned about this problem, working mostly digitally. But if you do find this something you'd like to improve on, you might enjoy the discussion, including the top answer, which says:

I put all paper documents I receive on top of a stack. Therefore it's roughly sorted by date. If I need to get an invoice from last December, I just look up around this date in my stack. Time spent to store information: 0; time spent to find something: a few minutes, once every other month.

I don't know if that system would work for everyone, but the thread includes other suggestions as well.

Now on to this week's hand-picked productivity links!

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Tools & Apps

Weje - An online whiteboard for ordinary online sticky notes to complex Kanban boards, to help you tackle all kinds of projects.

timeghost - A project time tracking tool for Office 365 with automated input (via Calendar, OneDrive, etc.) and automated output (time reports, invoices, etc).

Simul Docs - A version control and collaboration tool for Microsoft Word that makes it easy for multiple people to collaborate on Word documents.

Internxt - A zero-knowledge cloud storage service based on best-in-class privacy and security, first 10GB are free forever.

Scribe - A platform to quickly create and share a "how-to" guide. See the gallery for some examples, it's sort of a cross between screencast software and a tutorial builder.

Need a Better Way to Test Your Web App? Testim's Advanced AI Automates UI Testing. - Your dynamic web application needs test automation that keeps pace. Testim’s fast authoring with code flexibility boosts coverage, AI-powered stability slashes maintenance, and TestOps helps scale your team and testing efficiently. sponsored

Articles & Resources

Designing Better File Organization Around Tags, Not Hierarchies - A long read from a programmer called Nayuki describing some of the author's frustrations with typical file systems with proposed improvements.

The Dangers of Goal Setting - Some encouragement to re-examine why we set goals in the first place and how our environment propels us in certain directions.

The Ultimate Guide to Writing Online - I believe improved writing can directly affect how productive we are, so this is one to bookmark.

I Was a 'Master' Procrastinator. Here's the Simple 5-Step Method I Used to Quit the Habit - Justin Bariso, who feels he's won the battle against procrastination, gives advice based on the "principles of emotional intelligence".

Does Your Team Really Need Another Digital Tool? - A research-based look at how rolling out new tech on teams can hinder productivity and growth.

Nudge - Are you building content-driven sites? You should check out Nudge. Nudge has built a privacy-first analytics stack for content marketers. With an easy to use dashboard, anyone can use it. sponsored

Suggestions?

Have a suggestion for a productivity-related tool, article, or other resource? Send me a direct message via X (@LouisLazaris) and I’ll consider including it in a future issue.

Stay productive!

Louis
techproductivity.co
@LouisLazaris

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