Upon undertaking a new project it is a good practice to search for related work done in your organization. Asking co-workers if they are aware of such a work is one (good) way to do it. Another way is to search for documents in your file system. The latter can be done using the built-in search feature in windows.

To search for documents related to you project, do the following:

1. Go to the root folder (found it under ‘My Computer’, you can use the keyboard shortcut Winkey + E).
2. Click the “Search” button on the upper toolbar (see image below).
3. A new window will open inside the current one.  Write a keyword related to the new project in the search box and hit search. You can search all or part of file names or a word or a phrase inside files.

The built-in search feature in windows folders

The results of the search you performed are a good base for the new project. It will allow you to continue previous work undertaken in your organization and save you time reinventing the wheel.

Other tools

Note that more advance tools to search for documents are available, such as Google desktop (which is my personal favorite). The problem is that you may not be able to use in your organization due to policy or technology constraints. The windows built in search, on the other hand, is sure to be available.

Do you have project management and information management tips and practices? Tell us in the comments.

Post from: ProductiveWise

Use Windows Built-In Search to Look For Project Related Information

Every day we send and receive tens of emails (some of us less, some of us a lot more…). Have you ever thought of reusing some of them? I’m talking about the ones you spend more than a couple of minutes writing, those elaborated answers that take time to think of and write. Instead of sending and forgetting about them, here are some suggestions of how to leverage the time and effort you spend writing emails by transforming them into a whole new deliverables.

Additional uses for emails

Source for F&Q

Let’s say you’re a product manager. You frequently get question regarding the product (from external and internal customers). Collect these emails and display them on you company’s website in an F&Q format. It will improve the service your customers get (since they will spend less time searching for answers) and will also save you the need to answer repeatedly the same questions.

Manuals, brochure and Newsletter

Different departments in your company send you instructions and explanations about your product. Integrate them into the product’s manuals, brochures, and Newsletters your company publishes. Obviously, there is a demand for this information; otherwise you would not talk about it in the first place.

Blog post

If you the kind of person who frequently share tips and new ideas with coworkers and friends, you should consider publishing them as blog posts (I did it a couple of times).

New employee induction kit

Here is a personal example: When a new employee arrived at my department, I forward her a bunch of email conversations I had kept just for this purpose. Those emails contained a lot of information about internal work relations, undocumented procedures and so on, which helped her get acclimated. Otherwise, she would have to spend a lot of time getting this information, since some kinds of information are just impossible to find in the company’s formal documentation.

Getting started

To use this method, all you need to do is categorize emails you think might have value in the future. Outlook users can categorize emails by dragging them into predefined folders. Gmail users can assign labels.

Note that the idea here is not just to save emails as a reference or just in case you will need them, but proactively think of future use for them. Try to think if that information might be relevant if different context.

When necessary, go through the relevant folder/label, and copy its content into a new or exciting document, webpage or post. Although some editing might still be needed, it’ll save you a lot of writing and reinventing ideas and make you more customer-oriented.

for more useful email related tips and best practices visit the email tag.

Post from: ProductiveWise

Reuse Your Emails to Get Whole New Deliverables

If you’re interested in social media in corporate settings, this post is for you. ‎‎A paper by Deloitte, presented in a Workshop on Social Networking in Organizations, briefly reviews the design and deployment of social networking tool, D Street, in the company.

D Street is a web-based application created with the goal to increase the points of connectivity among Deloitte’s professionals. The tool allows them to create profiles that share their professional and personal brand.

D Street is described as “a ‘mash-up’ that takes data from human resource systems and combines it with employee-generated content.” It is comprised of selected elements of social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIN, which were applied to the specific business environment of the company.

What does it offer?

The following are a sampling of the data included on each personal profile (see screenshot):

• Firm directory data including geography, contact information, service areas, service lines, function
• People affiliations
• Personal interests including hobbies and personal favorites
• Suggested restaurants, things to do and places to see when visiting
• Blog module
• Presence awareness
• Resume, publications and content
• Work interests including affiliations, certifications and specializations
• Deloitte programs, community and affinity group participation

Why use social networking tools in the company?

The paper presents three main drivers for deploying social networking tools in the company:

1. Make the 56,000-employees organization feel smaller – this is by allowing people-to people networking.
2. Increasing employee visibility within the enterprise
3. fostering relationship among practitioners across the company - so as to achieve the following benfits: (1) increased productivity and innovation, (2) greater job satisfaction, (3) more seamless assimilation onto project teams, (3) reduction of knowledge sheering outside of the firewall on external sites, and (5) improved inclusion by demonstrating diversity of the company’s talent.

What did we learn here?

This case study shows an interesting implementation of social media, which we know from our personal life, to facilitate corporate goals. Fostering the creation of connections among professionals inside the company (i.e. social networking) can improve sharing of knowledge, and especially tacit knowledge (tacit knowledge describes things that are hard to communicate by writing and speaking, but can be learned by watching others and actually doing them).

I think that one of the “lesson learned” presented in this paper represents a core aspect of social media and networking, and it is that “A name is no longer a name but a hyperlink to a person['s] profile.” It represents the ability to find others according to their expertise, subject of interests, experience and so on, create connections and reach common goals.

If you are interested in social media in corporate settings, read the post – ‘Social Media and the Enterprise’ Explained (Presentation) that explains about social media and its effects on enterprises.

What is your experience with social media in corporate environment? Share it with us in the comments.

Post from: ProductiveWise

A Name is No Longer a Name – But a Hyperlink to a Person’s Profile – Social Media in Corporate Settings – a case study