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Right-Click-Save-As Syndrome

The Symptom: The combination of poor naming convention, traditional file sharing and digital hoarding is weakening our collective ability to focus on the work that matters.

The Magnitude: One patient we studied, an ecologist engaged in several collaborative projects, spends over 4.5 business days a year doing the following:
  • He receives an email with an attachment
  • He downloads the file, then right-click-and-saves in his project folder, using his naming convention
  • He makes his own edits, the uses a new naming convention reflecting his habits
  • He then returns to his email application, uploads the new version, then hits 'send'
  • The collaborator then reciprocates the right-click-and-saves in her project folder
  • This process can repeat itself up to 8 times

The Promising Practice:
  1. Design Principles - Keep names simple and clean & design documentation that can be easily shared
  2. Once-And-Done - Use collaborative tools that minimizes the number of emails and clicks
  3. Delete with Prejudice - Delete old files with prejudice

The Examples:
Below you will see examples of actual email attachments. I've removed any attribution that might reveal the author and/or their organization for privacy considerations; this exercise is not meant to be embarrassing. In fact, my colleagues and I struggle with this on a on going basis. However, we are constantly looking at our habits to improve the way we share, communicate and get high quality work done.
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#Hats&Habits
#Workphoria
#ShareWell&Prosper
#Moximise

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