For a moment, consider the following question: are there any tools, things or methods that you've been using for years or even decades - to your complete satisfaction?

In case something came to your mind: what exactly is so satisfying about it?

Your personal system of organization needs similar traits. Many times, seemingly boundless possibilities eclipse what you really need. The same goes for the appeal of make-believe bargains or peer pressure. Later on, in everyday life you find out that you fell for a bad compromise.

To find a system that fits you like a glove, you should start from a clear understanding of what you need. Preferably, you write a checklist. Don't buy or learn anything that does not pass the test.

I've got 4 suggestions, but no final answers. Let's look a little closer at these questions:

1. Where will you go?
2. What contexts are you working in?
3. Which standards can you leverage?
4. How can you establish a barrier-free work style?

Looking forward to your comments!

1. Where will you go to?

For you will still be here tomorrow
But your dreams may not.
(Cat Stevens, «Father and Son»)

What's going to change in your life? What isn't?

• Values - should your system express them or not?
  Do you feel your personal organization system is also a status symbol? Do expensive leather and shiny gold really help you to excel at work? Are the values reflected by your system still relevant - or have they become a cliché? Do you feel embarrassed when somebody asks you to explain your system or do you enjoy it?
• Goals - is your system an obstacle between you and your goals?
  Does it still represent what you want to get rid of or already what you want to achieve? Does it employ terms and techniques that reinforce the status quo?
• Methods - do they shape your system to the extreme or is it still flexible?
  Do you buy, learn and work strictly according to «the» textbook? Did you try this before you committed to a method? Do you see exceptional follow-up costs for special office supplies, much higher than the value of standard materials?
• Tasks - do you need to become more efficient in what you're already doing? Or do you need to become effective in doing something you've never done before?
  What isn't covered yet by your existing system and what doesn't your new system need to cover anymore, for sure?
• Company and customers - does your personal organization system resemble a satellite, orbiting that of the company?
  Does it work on its own? Can you make it less dependent on your current employer, less dependent on your customers? Is your system restricted to the goals of your company or does it support your own goals, too?
• People - is your system adequate to your interests, your skills and your age? Do you learn rather by memorizing or by doing? Did any critical illness or an an accident change your abilities? Are you (unconsciously) trying to camouflage what you're no longer good at, instead of developing further a brand-new skill of yours?

2. What contexts are you working in?

If it comes to you against the situation, don't let the situation win.
(MacGyver)

Where will you be, where will you work?

• Power supply and internet - can you perform without them? Your system supports your work, but does it change reality? Will your environment be appreciative of a boot process? Of your ring tone? Does your environment tolerate keyboard noise during meetings? Does it enjoy to dispense with eye contact, understanding that your machine needs most of your attention?
• Policies and unwritten laws - does your system boost success for the whole team or just for you, at the expense of others? Will you likely convince the whole IT department to switch over to your favorite software packages? Are you forever in storming phase?
• Mechanical, thermal or chemical stress - can your system stand it? Or do you need to walk out just to be able to take (or type) notes?
• Required space and size - does it pay to bring more tool extravaganza to a meeting than your boss or your customer does? When you take into account all adapters, extensions and accessories: how compact and stylish does your system look, then?

3. Which standards can you leverage?

The nice thing about standards is that there are so many of them to choose from.
(Andrew S. Tanenbaum)

Do you suffer from a Not-Invented-Here syndrome (NIH)?

• Batteries - how many charging devices do you pack for traveling? How much do you pay for replacement/rechargeable batteries? Can you buy them in every country you visit, everywhere? Can you replace the batteries on your own at all? If not: who rakes in the money for all that fiddling you can't do by yourself?
• Paper formats - do upmarket office supplies outvalue the regular stuff, or just out-cost it by a factor of 5 to 10? What are the advantages of exotic punch hole dimensions and distances compared to a standard? Is it sometimes «impossible» for you to take notes, because you lack the «appropriate» note paper? Do you sometimes refuse to jot down an idea because it would be a «pity» to «waste» a sheet of paper for that?
• File formats - are you able to find and restore important information, any time? Which software package guards your most precious memories? Has this software been maintained for 20 years and will it be for the next 20 years? If you don't think so: could you find somebody to restore that information for you? Would that person be able to get access to all information related to the data structures and file formats employed by your current software?
• Software - do you happen to be a follower of the Pareto principle? Can you be satisfied today with a solution that gives you 80 percent of what you want? Or do you strive for the 100 percent, forever? In case you're at variance with IT due to their being inflexible and ungenerous and at the same time with sales due to their wasteful and spineless attitudes - what might be the causes for that variances?

4. How can you establish a barrier-free work style?

Those who don't move don't feel their chains.
(Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach).

Has your system become a gilded cage?

• Exporting and importing data - can you export data on your own, for free, without information loss, from your existing system? Can you import it in the same way into your new system? Finally, can you export it again from your new system? Did you try that?
• Data structures - is your personal organization system a great assistant? Does it promise to become a long-lasting source of satisfaction? How many steps or mouse clicks does it take to arrive at the information you need? Looking at the documentation and any default dividers or templates: do you feel they're helpful or can you see at a glance that they're inappropriate? Do you already have a proven information structure in place, and can it be implemented on top of your new system?
• Restrictions - are you aware of all in-built restrictions of your new system? Is a new system worth all the frustration and anger that comes with copy protection, Digital Restrictions Management (DRM), forced «activation» and «assurance» subscription schemes?
• Ported open-source software - is your software package universally available or just portable in theory? Do you need to fork out money for every supported operating system and every software upgrade? Are you allowed to pass on all of your data and software for free, if necessary - or does your counterpart need to live in the same gilded software cage?

I'm looking forward to your comments!