Project Organizer & Planner

10 steps to getting it all together

Need to get organized? Are you weighed down by the sheer volume of your project 'stuff'? (books, papers, files, folders, references ..............)

Set aside some time when you won't be interrupted and gather all the 'stuff' you have that relates to your project.
Download eCorral and set up one or more corrals to contain your project or - if it's very complex - parts of your project. Choose appropriate tags for the eCorrals. Tip: be specific - 'Letters', 'General' and 'Correspondence' don't mean very much when you need to find your stuff in a hurry.
Make sure your corral titles match your paper based folder titles. Group all "like" things together. Have an overarching folder such as Event Management then create sub categories such as Venues, Catering, Entertainment, Audio / Visual, Speakers and so on, so you know where to go to find information on a particular category. If you are a wedding planning organiser for instance, you can divide by client name and file all relevant information relating to their wedding together. This is an essential key if you want to reduce the stress in the run up to the event.
Colour code your files and corrals for visual reference.
Use a large lever-arch folder with coloured dividers if you don't have a lot of information on each category or a concertina folder labelled with the appropriate subject category / keywords if you only have a few items.
Scan those bits of paper, photographs, maps and drawings into your computer system and save them into the appropriate files / folders in your corrals.
File it or corral it when you find or receive it.
If you download documents from the web, remember to "save as" into the correct place on your computer system, as soon as it has finished opening. One thing I can guarantee will happen if you don't - you will close the link down and you won't have saved a copy for later use and reference.
Always have eCorral open when you're researching or working on your project. This way everything is stored in its corral and nothing gets lost or mislaid.
Use a pinboard corral for notes that relate to multiple projects, including your calendar of deadlines. TIP: Outlook can be integrated into eCorral, or use Google Calendar.

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