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how to control paper flow

4. Exercise Good Sortsmanship

You should have three labeled stacking trays on your desk:

IN: This tray is for mail and memos when they first arrive.
Leave the mail in this tray until you’re ready to deal with
it. Once you sort through the incoming mail, you’ll make
a decision about where it goes next. It never goes back in
the IN tray.

OUT: The second tray is where you place outgoing mail—
either external or internal mail to others within your office
or building. You are done with whatever you put here.

TO FILE: The third tray is where you place items to be filed
when you have time. Keep some file folders here so you
can further organize each item. These folders should be
labeled so they work best for you, but “Do,” “Read,” and
“File” will work in 90 percent of cases. You will need to
assign time to do your filing or other action so this tray
does not get out of control.

Start by asking a variation on that fundamental question: Do I
want or need to deal with this?

If not, does anybody need to?
If so, reroute and place it in the OUT box.
If not, it will go in the TO FILE box.
Do it now. Keep a supply of routing slips, interoffice mail enve-
lopes, and whatever else you need to send the stuff on its way right
away. And keep a bucket for recycling within easy reach.
For anything that makes it past this first cut, place each item
in the proper folder in the TO FILE box. The “Do” folder carries
with it a sense of urgency—this contains items that you’re working
on now. You can grab the “Read” folder on your way to lunch or
a meeting. And items in the “File” folder will need to be filed by
someone before it overflows.

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