Managing papers is tough – it maybe the biggest obstacle on the road to be organized. What is the possible exit from this dark tunnel? Jason Hunter at ONLamp shares his way – by virtualizing his document management. It means that every paper documents are scanned and converted into digital formats, and kept in an organized way in his PC. The steps involve finding the suitable revision control system, a scanner, and a good file and directory convention:
Several years ago I noticed something funny about my habits as a technologist. My hard drive was always immaculately organized, while my office looked like a three year old had spent the day locked inside. To help organize my papers I tried a few physical-world organization ideas–like using cubby holes to store documents (quicker inserting than vertical files)–but no matter what I tried, eventually all my documents ended up in a big pile. I honestly don’t think techies are by nature motivated to keep the real world as organized as they keep their virtual world.
That led to a solution I’ve used now for several years: virtualize my document management! It’s a system that worked great for me and I think will work for any tech-savvy person, so I’ll share it here in the hope it might help you. It involves a Perforce revision control system, a document scanner, and several hard drive organizational conventions and file editing habits. If you’re a techie and want your physical life more organized using virtual tools, read on.
The biggest reminder for me is to come up with one directory & file naming convention and stick to it.
How do you manage your paper? Have you gone down to the virtualization route?
What’s on Jason’s Hard Drive – [OnLAMP]
