I found a post-it on my desk this morning that was actually there since several months (if not year). It’s a short checklist with questions to answer before deciding whether I will trash or retain a document.
I tend to retain too many documents (electronic and paper) that consumes space and are useless — I will anyway never read them. This short post-it helps me in my cleaning activity. It helps me take some distance with the material and its importance.
- is it hard to find the document again?
- is the document important regarding legal aspects?
- is the document up to date?
- is the document currently/frequently used?
Then if all answers are “no”, trash it!
It’s amazing how many documents can actually be trashed according to this checklist. Free desktop again!
://ewernli 