Organisation

Hello,

I have progressed from site enginner to project engineer, to my current position as a project manager. Something I have always wanted to improve on is organisation. I am looking to organise my emails in a better manner and note taking

Does anyone have a really effective system of organising emails? I currently have project folders, however, I just throw everything in there thats related to the project. I have been thinking of doing another folder structure like :

Suppliers
Sub Contractors
Steakholder management etc

Let me know what you think?

Secondly, looking for some more ideas for note taking/task managers - are there methods that people have found to be very effective? I know a lot of people that are using the apps onenote and notion so they can take notes on site and view them on their desktop after

Thanks!
 

JohnSmith1995

Great questions! I'll offer you a couple of ideas that you could try - Both of these have been effective tools in my e-management system for years.

For organizing emails, I believe that keeping track of "Open Issues" is a key component of managing them. I set up a folder stack as a tickler list of emails that require action, either by me or by others. My stack looks like this:

--ACTION TODAY
--ACTION THIS WEEK
--TRACKING
----PROJECT A
----PROJECT B
----PROJECT C

These folders become the Holding Area where I can quickly check on status. As I get a new email that supersedes one already in the stack, I switch them up so that only the most-current email is here. I, like you, ultimately store "Closed" emails in project files.

As for note taking, I have been, and always will be, a pencil & paper person. I've written extensively about using a Franklin Planner, it is the one tool in my toolbox that I'll never stop using.

The key to notes is not what system you use, whether it be Evernote, or OneNote or Notion or paper/pencil - The key to a note-taking system is that you consistently review your notes. Our brains are best at creating ideas, they are not great at storing & retrieving information. If you are diligent about taking and using your notes, they will be a much-more purposeful resource for you. During your morning start-up, take 5-10 minutes to run back through your recent notes, see if there are open loops that you need to act on, memory joggers you need for the day, etc.

I've written a articles on construction engineering and Tracking Open Issues - Check them out & let me know what you think.
Cheers!!
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