1. Sketch out your career vision

• All starts with a real fun part.
• Close your eyes and think of an ideal picture – how would perfect look like?
• Work from home? Teach an audience? Create something unique? Get something to work smoothly?
• What topic articles catch your attention in newspapers / professional magazines? Boomtown Dubai, The Baltics – a silent but thriving part of Europe, …?
• What geographies do you love? France, the mountains, the sea, north, south, your home region, the internet,…?
• What kind of work do you find sheer fun? Consultative, sales, detail, conceptual, team, complex calculations, …?
• What kind of projects inspire you and make you forget time? The product launch, sales campaign, annual accounts, analyst briefing, thought leadership paper, fundraising, redesign, …?

2. Identify the strengths you can apply

• Honestly – what would others be jealous of when they look at your career?
• What would a job starter need to invest 10 years in to get to your level?
• What do you automatically bring in when working in an ad hoc group?
• Do you speak different languages and are you familiar with other cultures?
• How long have you been in your industry and role or have you seen different ones?
• What do your peers make fun of? Are you the detail cruncher or the vision dreamer? Easy to enthuse or hard to stop?

3. Derive your fundamental alternatives

• A moment to lean back and have a look again at #1 and #2
• Can you combine your strengths so to support your visions?
• Create one or two scenarios that you feel could be achievable in mid term.

4. Go learn

• Google for related branch associations, business development corporations etc. These normally publish specific branch news, often company news and sometimes even run a job market that you might want to check out.
• Especially if you intend to reposition from one industry to another this is fundamental knowledge.
• Furthermore it helps you identify the relevant players: Target organisations as well as specialised recruiters – but that’s at a later step. For now: Read their sites regularly and be inspired.

5. Work out your reputation in relation to the just identified alternatives

• Listen and repeat I: A person doesn’t get hired for the responsibilities she had, but for what people believe the person can achieve for them in the future.
• Listen and repeat II: People may believe your own words, but they are far more impressed by your reputation.
• Reputation builds on: Who has profited from your work before, what successes have you contributed to, social engagement for non-profit projects, experts who you have worked with, placement in official rankings, number of people who follow your blog, endorsements from colleagues or customers or your managers, your publications, appearance in local news, awards, what results have you achieved – big or small, … – you get the idea.
• Trust me – there are notable aspects, regardless of the organisational level you’re playing at.
• Now look again at the scenarios you created in #3 and think of your reputation. Does one trigger the other? Immediately write down what you discover now. Incredibly valuable for your future.

6. Narrow down target organisations

• By now you have worked yourself into a position that allows you to take the steer.
• What exact kind of organisation would potentially benefit most from the values that stand behind your reputation?
• Which industry? Which size? Which strategic positioning and which tactical development programs? Which regional orientation?
• Does a specific company come to your mind? Take down a note.
• But do not let this limit your thoughts. Change your point of view. How about customers, suppliers, partners, consultants of the company you already thought of? Would these theoretically match your scenario as well? Maybe even better? Your expertise may become even more valuable if you switch sides – from supplier to customer – from production to consulting…
• Whatever you come up with – be precise in narrowing down to the best kinds of target organisations.

7. Aim your profile at your target

• This is hard work.
• There are countless recommendations on how to build your CV – and this article shall not compete with them.
• Just two aspects to underline: 1) You need a dedicated CV for each group of target organisation. 2) Every entry in your CV must be tailored to support the reputation you want to get across.
• List your ROLE at COMPANY from DATE-IN to DATE-OUT
• Outline your key achievements per role so to support your reputation: Improved X/Y ratio in corporate Z program by x% within 6 months. Delivered ABC project in time and on budget resulting in XYZ.
• Be concrete, countable, suggest references where you have them.
• Everything you write down may lead to questions. Use this. Choose things which you’re more than happy to detail in an interview.
• Open up opportunities for recruiters to imagine what you could do for their customers.

8. Find out recruiters who work with your targets

• Google.com
• Search for professional recruiters who claim to work with organisations that match your target specifications.
• Do they list branches, customers or even positions that match your scenarios?
• Bookmark 20 or more who have an office in your region.
• Do not sign-up on their website. No offence at all, there’s simply a better entry.

9. Identify people who can recommend you

• Xing.com / Linkedin.com
• Contact a few people you absolutely trust and who would be reputable to recommend you to a recruiting company or directly to one of your target organisations.
• Tell them you’re worried that your current company does not provide you with the development opportunities you’re seeking.
• Outline your ideal scenarios and link them to one or two of your key reputation points.
• Ask your contact if they would know a good recruiter in your target areas. Name a few from your list for whom you have no recommendations yet.
• Ask them if they would recommend you to that recruiter as someone the recruiter should get to know based on the kind of people she normally looks for. Point out that you don’t want the recruiter get the impression that you need a job. You’re open to opportunities. Agree a follow up meeting or call to get feedback.
• Get recommendations for at least 5, better 8 recruiters from your list. This may be difficult and take time, weeks or months maybe even years, but there’s no way around it. You want to develop at least 2 better 3 good relations from these.
• Right – Direct contacts to HR people or line managers who are hiring directly at your target companies are even better of course - but often even more difficult to make contact with, especially when you’re switching branch and therefore lacking bridge contacts. However, absolutely worth to ask for as well, same procedure.

10. Be prepared and keep networking

• Are you comfortable to talk right now? Don’t panic, take a second, think, decide: Are you in a place you can openly talk now or rather suggest a precise time later or after business hours? Both is ok – just don’t move it to later than tomorrow.
• When you get a call from a recruiter, remember you’re not their client but their product.
• Recruiters are professional purchasers and professional sales people in one person. If you fit their criteria they will do their best to sell you because you earn them money and customer relations. If you don’t fit their criteria, they can not sell you and hence neither they nor you want to waste time. If you get to that point in a professional way, they still might be happy to recommend you to a better matching colleague.
• So it’s all about friendly, professional communication. Help the recruiter to do his job efficiently – and you’ll make for a great product.
• Have your CVs at hand – all the time – everywhere. At least in digital form on your smartphone or tablet as these can be fired up quickly enough for reference in a surprising phone call – just to make sure you don’t blank.
• In the same way have at hand a crisp pitch for each target scenario: Where you’re aiming at, one or two position examples that you could fill and again one or two reputation points to support each. Have it in writing next to your CV.
• Practice it.
• Don’t send your CV unless you have full and direct contact details of the recruiter and unless your contact specifies an actual opportunity. You’re not desperate, right, you’re in the steer.
• Maintain the relationship. Touch base every six months. A) Update briefly with your last achievements and current challenges. B) Understand what you can do for the recruiter. Refer only people for whom you can explain why you fully recommend them.
• Enjoy.

I think there are fundamentally 2 points to understand:

1st – WHAT to keep and for how long.
2nd – If it’s ok to keep that stuff ONLY in digital form at all.

Actually – I’ll start with this 2nd part.

I found an interesting paper by Dr. Richard Beyer about the legal relevance of documents archived in digital form under German law. He discussed this (in German language) for corporations, so that’s to keep in mind.

I understood Dr. Beyer concluded that, while cogency of proof can come in different shapes of which the original document certainly is the most powerful, an archived version of that original practically turns out to be just as powerful when „typical circumstances“ of the matter suggest „let’s not overcomplicate things“. So that’s where the rubber hits the road: Would a judge consider a hypothetical case as critical and unique enough to require a proof of genuineness of archived copies. Hmmm – so that answer is a juridically clear „depends“…

Now – in order to get a better feeling for this „depends“ thing, I took a closer look at question #1 – recommendations on what to keep for how long.

For that I found an article by Andrea Herrmann of the German FoeBuD organisation. This is an association that aims to support peoples rights, unhindered communication and the protection of personal data. Andrea gives an overview of what one should keep for how long. Her differentiation by recommended time to keep documents indicates to me what I should probably regard as really critical. So here’s in short:

NEVER THROW AWAY
(sorry but some are very very obvious)

• ID card
• Drivers licence
• Marriage certificate
• Birth certificate

• Educational certificates
• Carreer documentation (Employment contracts, employer references, etc)
• Payment bills
• Tax bills
• Social security certificates
• Pension information

• Medical surveys
• Death certificates of family members

• Court decisions
• Records of a case

KEEP 5+ YEARS

• Income tax declarations and supporting documents (5+ years)
• Insurance contracts (for duration of the contract)

KEEP 3+ YEARS

• Bank statements (3+ years)
• Lease contracts (3+ years)

KEEP 2+ YEARS

• Purchase receipts (2+ years) (longer if you want prove the value of your household to an insurance)

Now what did this tell me for my purpose? Still nothing definitive, actually. But in order to draw my personal „depends“ line, I’ll look at Andrea’s „never throw away“ group and within that I’ll carefully consider: What would create a substantial problem to me in case an archived copy of the original would not be regarded by a judge as sufficient to prove my point in the light of „typical circumstances“. Again, that’s a very individual choice to make and I’ll personally rather stay way on the safe side there.

That will sure not allow me to get rid of all paper in my personal administration. However the remaining list of documents that I decide to keep in paper form is FAR shorter than what I kept so far. Plus, I will of course still scan those high importance documents as an extra layer of backup. Also, everything I have at hand in digital form empowers me to act faster anywhere. At least until someone insists on getting the original paper copy. Which I then am happy to pick out of my 3-4 remaining folders instead of todays 30 or so. Easy.

Anyone with a better systematic to support the selection criteria – please shout! Much appreciated.

Easy means to me: No need to think and still get the perfect result. One way to achieve this is muscle memory. Can you remember the times when you right-klicked with your mouse to open a context menu, selected the copy entry and… Well – didn’t cmd-c / cmd-v feel sooo much better? With TextExpander I can build the same kind of muscle memory for standardised text snippets. Applying this to file naming standards is only logical.

Here’s my file naming convention again (if you wonder why it looks that way, read here):

TYPE – YYYYMM – Description (explanatory word) – A00.pdf

(The versioning part at the end shall be optional.)

I’m not going to explain TextExpander as an application because Don McAllister has already covered it in several of his excellent screencasts. What I’ll do instead is just explain how I practically use TextExpander to name files in a consistent way without thinking (too much).

I found there are mainly 2 ways of using TextExpander for this.

Option 1: The 4 Single Snippets

Build 4 single snippets covering the 4 parts of the file name. Seemed obvious – but didn’t feel fluent enough when I actually handled it. No worries, there’s a better way:

Option 2: My File Naming Monster Snippet

I built a single snippet that covers the entire file name for every type of file and every variant (versioning / no versioning, etc.) following my naming convention. Here we go:

%fillpopup:name=TYPE:default=ARTWORK:CONTRACT:CORRESPONDENCE:DOCUMENT:INVOICE:ORDER:RECEIPT:REFERENCE% – %Y%m – %filltext:name=Who What (detail):width=30%

Looks terrible, right? That’s why I call it Monster - and I love it. I tell you what: Go into TextExpander on your Mac, add a new snippet, just copy and paste the string above and give it a try. Here’s how it would look for scanned masterpiece drawings of my daughter if she could handle crayons already other than trying to eat them ;-)

You see the first part of the snippet - %fillpopup:name=TYPE:default=ARTWORK:(…) - creates the dropdown menu with all the entries for each of the document types I think I’ll have in my paperless system. If I’ choose these so that they start with different characters, I can even select them with just pressing that character instead of arrowing down… Creating flow…

The second part - %Y%m - inserts the current year and month in a sorting-friendly manner.

The third part - %filltext:name=Who What (detail):width=30% – gives me a 1 line text entry field that is 30 characters wide. Because I named that field “Who What (detail)” the snippet reminds me of the convention that I have chosen for this descriptive part of the file name. This will help me get a bit of systematic even into the free text field. Yes, it’s taken me a while to accept myself as just being that way…

I can manoeuvre through the snippet using the TAB key and apply my input hitting RETURN.

Ah – the versioning part!

Version numbers can be really helpful. Depending on the software I use and the circumstances. But – I don’t need version numbers on every file. TextExpander does support optional texts. But – honestly – looking at a 3 digit thing that I need rather rarely – I decided to not overdo it.

I found that’s a good decision because: Once I hit return after entering the file name description part, TextExpander applies my input to the file name and takes me back into the Finder – AND – the file name remains in modification mode with the cursor nicely positioned at the end of the file name. Perfect because now I can simply add a document version when I need it or just hit another RETURN if I don’t.

The date thing

I know I’ll sometimes come across a file that will be a month old before I pick it up from my action folder and name it properly. Maybe even two months – hopefully in rare occasions. More often might I want not only the year and month but also a day to be included in the file name – the artwork example above would be such a critical case…

There’s a better way to handle this than manually going into the filename after creating it, arrowing towards the date stamp and then correcting / adding numbers. I simply duplicated the TextExpander snippet in my library, changed the date stamp to my anticipated requirements and saved each snippet to a slightly amended shortcut.

Here are the ones that I use:

-fn    =   the “standard” file name snippet as shown above

-fn1  =  with date stamp corrected by subtracting 1 month  :  replace date part with %Y%@-1M%m

-fn2  =  with date stamp corrected by subtracting 2 months  :  replace date part with %Y%@-2M%m

-fnd  =  with date stamp including a 2-digit day  :   amend the original date part with %d

That’s it. My file naming convention realised with TextExpander. Another reason why the maker of that fine piece of code (Smile Software) in my eyes has earned every right to lead their company name :-)

So what’s next in my paperless project? I guess I want to play with Hazel. Just as good.

Stay tuned.

People have different recommendations for naming files and I see they make sense each in their way. The key is finding out what would work for me. So here’s my first take.

I want every file name to contain certain information which

1. informs me about the type of document, the content, the date or the version
2. I can utilise to have a bunch of files sorted
3. allows automation of the file management process (i.e. through TextExpander or Hazel)

File Name Information to Include

• TYPE of document
  
  Important: I don’t mean “type of file” such as .txt or .pdf – no – I mean “type of document” such as reference material, correspondence, order, contract, picture, identity document, etc.This is going to be very hard. On the one hand I want as few categories as possible because I like simplicity. On the other hand I may find I’ll need more because reality is so diverse…

  Why do I need this at all? For easy searching, sorting, grouping. Simple example: My phone bills, water bills and gas bills, all other bills will most certainly end up in different folders on my harddrive. When I want to quickly get all the bills I paid in October 2012, I don’t want to work through all these folders. I want to tell Spotlight something like “Bill 2012″ and within a blink get a list of all these in a Finder window. That’s why the Finder is called a “finder” ;-) I think.
  
  So you see – I need as few document types as possible to keep things lean and mean. And I must accept as many types as necessary. Here’s my initial list:

  DOCUMENT = official administrational documents such as passport or birth certificate
  REFERENCE = manuals or articles
  CORRESPONDENCE = letters, both private and formal
  ORDER = could be a regular order as well as changes to an order or even a dismissal
  CONTRACT = core contract, additions, changes
  INVOICE = obvious
  RECIEPT = obvious
  ART = the artistic makings of my childrenI guess I’ll identify more types over time. And hopefully I will also get some ideas how I can ideally merge some of the ones I already have in order to shorten the list again… My main suspects are the order, contract, and invoice types. Maybe I can merge these into a TRADE type or so…

• DESCRIPTION of the contentThis is the heart of the file name. If the type is “INVOICE” the description could be “Phone Bill (mobile)“. It’s the part that actually must tell me most about the file so it should be chosen carefully.I’ve noticed that at least 2 variants could serve as standard guidelines for this part:a) “Sender to Recipient What (explanatory word)” = for correspondence
  b) “Institution What (explanatory word)” = for refernence material as well as for contracts, invoices, reciepts, even for my kid’s artwork (in a special way…)
• DATE

  Putting the date like 07-10-2012 in a file name makes no sense. Because it does not help the sorting of files in a folder. If you sort, the character furthest to the left will define the sorting first, then the second left character and so on.Hence dates in file names should always be YYYYMMDD. Where YYYY represents a 4-digit year such as 2012, MM represents a 2-digit month such as 10 for October and DD of course represents a 2-digit day as in 07. Note the 0 ahead of the 7 – again to ensure the sorting is done correctly. I like to put the date exactly like this because it’s shortest. You may prefer to put dashes or blanks in between the YYYY and MM and DD – all work fine.I often hear that people recommend putting the date at the very beginning of the file name because they like to sort files by date. I understand the point and I even like it – I just apply it a bit differently.I can sort files by date created, date last opened, date last changed even without having the date as part of the file name at all. This information is available as file tags in OS-X anyway. However I do want to put the date in the filename (mainly because the date that I’ll choose by hand may need to be different from the system date on which the file is actually created). I’ll just not include the date as the very first element. Instead I put the TYPE first, then the DATE. I’ll explain the advantage that I see in this later.

• VERSION

  Before I joined BT Global Services, I’ve worked for Logica for some years, a large IT Services and Consulting company. They taught me the following methodology of versioning files:A00 = Initial notes
  A01 = My first draft version
  A02 = my second draft version
  A… = my …
  A= the first version I gave out for review or negotiation or maybe even as my first attempt to publish

  B00 = the first revised version
  B01 = my first draft on the revised version
  B02 = my second draft on the revised version
  B… = my …
  B = the second version that I “handed out for review” or brought to the customer negotiation, etc.

  C00 = …let’s not hope for that ;-)
  C01 = …

  I like this methodology very much. It’s very simple, very clear, hard to break and you could go a long way from A to Z… Also if I sort the folder  with these versions of the file by name, the A version (without 00, 01, 02) always stands a bit out because it’s shorter. Very easy to keep a quick overview of all iterations and easy to find the right file.

  Now maybe for the purpose of my paperless project file versioning is not really relevant. But speaking of a file naming convention, I thought I should close the loop and take this in.

My File Naming Convention

So here’s what I choose for my system:

TYPE - YYYYMMDD - Description (explanatory word) – VERSION.extension

INVOICE - 20121007 - Phone Bill (mobile).pdf      (no version required here)

The advantage that I see in this naming has to do with the fact that I want a single file naming convention for all kinds of files. My phone bills I’ll collect in a folder that’s dedicated to the relation with that phone company. This bucket will hold dozens of phone bills and just very few administrational correspondence, orders, changes, etc. In contrast all folders that are dedicated to a project likely will contain very different types of files in a single place. I don’t want these project folders primarily sorted by date but firstly by type of file and only then by date. Nicely made possible by my file naming convention.

Again this is probably beyond my little paperless project, but when I come up with such a ground laying methodology, it should work out nicely not only in that single paperless purpose but should function generally.

Evolution

I don’t know if I’ll use this exact naming convention forever – probably not. I might find inefficiencies in my processes, probably find out better ways of sorting things, maybe want to apply new tools, switch from system A to system B – whatever. But then I’ll have a systematic in place on which I hopefully can apply an automator script or so and simply change file names to my enhanced preferences then… The beauty of systematics.

However. File naming solved for now – next up will be getting files from my action folder into my apps and services of choice.

Stay tuned.

Quick recap: First, I’ve gotten clear about how I’d actually like to use my stuff once I’ll have gone paperless. I think making sure I enjoy the ways I work makes it more likely for me to keep to my system. Second, from this „how“ I’ve derived my personal requirements for security and convenience – and based on that chosen appropriate tools.

Now let’s dive deeper!

So – processing documents – what do I need to understand / decide / setup here? I think this part will be all about the core stuff:

1. STRUCTURING the kinds of documents that I actually have to deal with
   (so that I keep a clean overview)
2. METHODOLOGY in naming conventions for files and folders
   (in order to enable simplified day-to-day handling)
3. AUTOMATION of file and folder handling
   (to minimise personal effort)

Yes I like to break things down systematically. Makes it easier to fine tune. And I want my band to groove! And because I’ll have to write it up as I actually progress in my little project here, I’ll split my posts about the entire processing phase in the above mentioned 3 parts.

I’ll start out with the STRUCTURE part 1 “Getting Hold of Reality”

After 5 weeks of parental leave (and with my newborn demanding far more attention than – say – my phone bills…), my paper inbox has piled up… So why not use this as an opportunity to actually see WHAT paper really comes in regularly! (Kind of what GTD’ers do when they start out with collecting everything that’s on their mind to see what commitments they actually have (sub)consiously!)

So, to get an overview of what documents I’ll actually have to deal with, I went through my pile of paper and – well – made smaller piles divided by topics like

• banking
• insurance
• invoices
• home
• manuals
• invitations
• private mail (yes I confess I had completely forgotten to open some…)
• stuff to sort out later
• urgent & important stuff to do ASAP (get the present for mom’s 65th birthday THIS WEEK)
• …

(I guess these smaller piles might already resemble more or less the paperless folder structure that I’ll end up with…)

Inside the piles of course gathered documents that are typical for each pile topic. For example my banking pile consisted of:

• Monthly listings of purchases with my Credit Card
• Summaries of my savings progress with different accounts
• Also the administrational documents of the new bank account that I opened for my wife and myself as „family account“ as well as the new bank account to hold future savings for my child.
• etc.

Accordingly for each other pile. This really gave me a very practical overview of what life is actually throwing at me and how exactly that stuff looks like.

So what next? Take notes of it all and brainstorm about file naming? Scan examples? Leave it spread out on the floor until I have figured out my system?? The latter was NOT an option (as my beloved wife pointed out) ;-) Hmmm… So I opted for:

1. SCAN AN EXAMPLE of each type of document (to an action folder as David Sparks describes in his podcast and book)
2. NAME IT with a simple explanatory name w/o much tadaa (just so that I can identify it later when I’ll tinker with file naming conventions)
3. FILE THE PAPER version in the physical folder where it would usually go (just for now)

Good decision. After this I felt very much on the right track. Not only had I worked my paper pile down to what would needed immediate action. More importantly for my project I now have a bunch of real life examples for folders and files that I can perfectly use to develop core parts of the methodology in a next step.

Stay tuned.

Versions

First off – BoxCryptor is a typical freemium offer. And in my eyes the upgrade steps from the free version to the paid ones are set very reasonably. The free version is very functional already. I could buy options for multiple drives and for encrypting the file names for 29.99 EUR. The same extras sell for 69.99 EUR for business users. So for my purpose the basic/free version should do it – for now ;-)

Installation

Installation is easy. Within the typical Mac software install routine, I was asked to choose a folder where I wanted my encrypted files to live. I created this destination in my Dropbox. Then I needed to define a secure password which of course I stored as a 1password secure note.

BoxCryptor then created and mounted an extra drive on my Mac. This is the place where I’ll have to save the files that I want BoxCryptor to encrypt and automatically move to the secure folder in my Dropbox.

Test

I created a text file and saved it to the BoxCryptor drive. The software did it’s job, encrypted the file and moved it to the folder that I had created during installation – on my dropbox.

Then I made a mistake :-) I tried to open the file in the Dropbox folder through the Finder while BoxCryptor was running and I expected that I’d be asked for the password. But to my surprise it opened the file just as any other file with even a preview being possible… So what’s the mistake? Did BoxCryptor fail? Did I miss to set a preference? Neither. A quick look at BoxCryptors support centre resolved it:

BoxCryptor Agent David Rajkay writes on Oct. 29th 2012:

…our main goal is providing security for the data not on your pc. The data you give away. If Boxcryptor is running everyone having physical acces to your computer can acces the files. If you want to add a layer of security you could add an application password. This password locks the BoxCryptor app. If you want to start it you will have to enter the password. If boxcyptor is not running no plaintext files remain on your Host.

This makes a lot of sense. And it offers some convenience for the workflows that I have in mind.

To finalise my test I tried to open the same file with BoxCryptor not running – and now it showed only the encrypted content – as advertised. Then from the Dropbox website – perfectly encrypted, too. Then checked to open the same file from within my iOS Dropbox App –  same thing. So far so good. Finally tried from the BoxCryptor iOS App – and sure enough was asked for my password as expected. After entering this, my text file showed – unencrypted. Perfect.

Workflow

What does this mean for my workflows?

1. Added security for sensitive files even on my Mac: The files on my mac are only readable if BoxCryptor is running. There’s a setting to not automatically start BoxCryptor at Mac startup. And of course I have set the password. So even on my Mac the sensitive data get’s an extra level of security. Good.
2. Automated file operations possible: As the files don’t disappear in an extra application but are stored in my regular nested folders structure I can apply a lot of TextExpander naming standardisation and Hazel file management automation. And yes I can do this while BoxCryptor is not running as the software only manages the encryption process, not the file management.

Summary

BoxCryptor significantly upgrades my Dropbox. Dropbox excels at easy and reliable file syncing. I currently have 12 GB of free storage on my Dropbox account. More than enough for documents. But so far I could only use this for low or medium critical data. BoxCryptor extends the use scenarios for Dropbox significantly w/o interfering with Dropbox’s sync convenience. BoxCryptor is not a service but a fine piece of software that encrypts my data right on my computer. So if I use Dropbox for its sync magic, only secure files travel across the internet. Perfect teamplay.

The added security for sensitive files on my Mac and the fact that it allows TextExpander and Hazel to play out their standardisation and automation magic earn BoxCryptor a premium place in my system. Glad I was pointed to it! Stay tuned for updates on how it rates in my day-to-day use.

For LEVEL 1 (Top Security)

Again these are documents that could be related to my identity, financials or legal stuff.

1. 1Password
   
   I’ve been using 1Password of AgileBits for years now and never ever have I had a problem with it. Although it sports high end encryption of all the data that it holds, using it does not get me out of my flow at all. In fact, after only a few days of use, it became part of my muscle memory – or keyboard tango as a friend just called it.1Password securely stores my:  Logins, Online Accounts, (Online) Identity Information, Secure Notes, Software Licences and 
   Information of Financial Accounts (credit card numbers and PINs, etc)
   
   At the moment 1Password sadly does not offer a way to view and use attachments from its Secure Notes section through the mobile version of the software. That’s a big thing for my paperless workflow. Hence I’ll need to store sensitive documents in a different place if I want to have them at hand on the go.
   
   
2. Dropbox with Boxcryptor
   
   Dropbox does not offer encryption as an on-board feature but Boxcryptor by German software manufacturer Secomba integrates with Dropbox and might fill the encryption gap quite nicely. Reader Malte pointed me to the service and I’m currently evaluating it for the described purpose. From what I read on their website and in available reviews the service seems very promising.

For LEVEL 2 (Casual Security)

This level likely will contain the majority of my documents. Invoices, administrational correspondence, etc. Stuff that I would not like to see in the public, but which would probably not really hurt if it got compromised. So, some rather casual security should be enough here.

Basically my decision is between using the Evernote service or Dropbox. Both have their strengths.

1. Evernote
   
   The virtual “everything bucket” has a pretty user interface both on the Mac and on iOS. And using it feels rather non-techy, which is a clear advantage when I want to share things with people who (while using a computer and/or a smartphone) are not quite as much into “computery things” as I am… You probably know what I mean…
2. Dropbox
   

   The virtual “everywhere folder” on the other hand offers by far more flexibility in managing documents on file level. Which becomes relevant where automation comes into play. Also Dropbox has a highly functional iOS client.

3. iCloud
   
   There is one more thing. Apple’s iCloud service keeps documents in sync between Macs and iOS devices. Critical requirement is that the application must be iCloud enabled. The iCloud magic is constructed around files and applications – not around files and projects. Meaning what? With iCloud the files only appear in the application used to work on the file. I couldn’t manage the files in a folder structure. However most projects do contain different types of files – i.e. outlines, pictures, tables, pdfs and maybe a presentation. With iCloud these files would be scattered across different applications with no way (please someone correct me!) to see and manage them all joined up in a project folder. That’s just not what iCloud seems to be meant for.

   The only scenario on this level of my paperless system would be to use iCloud for work in progress that I’d like to progress on different devices. Then, whenever a file reaches a major new version, move it from iCloud to a folder based storage. I must try and see if that’s convenient for me.

So the decision for me basically is between better options for automation and more pretty ahm non-techy sharing. Coming back to the expectation that level 2 of my paperless system will contain the most of my documents, I think automation weighs heavier. Level 2 needs a workhorse compatible with the tools that make it groove. So I’ll go for Dropbox.

The sharing option gets more relevant on level 3.

For LEVEL 3 (No worries about Security)

Here it’s all about the fun stuff. Managing and sharing birthday present ideas, my favourite recipes, notes for holiday preparation or trip itineraries, you name it.

1. Evernote
   
   What can I say – this is where Evernote really excels. I’ve decided for the premium service because for just 40 EUR per year it allows me to share defined notebooks with other people. It also lets me define some high priority notebooks that shall be available offline on my mobile devices. Great value for money, given the many use cases.
2. iCloud
   

   Wait – why iCloud again? Well there are indeed use cases for my paperless level 3 that play perfectly with the iCloud logic: My calendar, my address book, my shopping lists, my to-do application – all of which have moved from paper to digital a while ago already.Few people think of these applications actually as part of a paperless system. But adding dates to my calendar, clipping information from the web or from paper into an action of my to-do list, transforming paper business cards into a digital contact is maybe the most frequent activities in a paperless setup.

SUMMARY

3 layers of security in my paperless setup and numerous use scenarios can hopefully be handled with just 4 main services and a special add-on that sounds extremely promising to me. It’s getting exciting – for a nerd. Stay tuned.

I’ve started this a while ago – and I love it. Even better: My wife loves me for this! (Hopefully for more.) However.

The workflow sports the Evernote service, my iPhone and a bunch of cookbooks. It’s so simple, yet so useful.

1. In Evernote for iPhone I added a new Evernote notebook, which I call “My Cookbook”
2. Whenever I come across a recipe I suspect worth trying – and – whenever I’ve tried one and found out it worth repeating, I add a new foto-entry to this notebook. Could be from my own books, could be from a friend or anywhere.
3. First shot is a picture of the meal, second shot is a picture of the ingredients list, third shot is of the cooking instructions.
4. I’ve made a habit of tagging my recipes. For that I use a bunch of tag groups from each of which I choose a single tag: The kind of food such as fish/meat/vegetarian, best time for fresh ingredients could be spring/summer/autumn/winter, category of the dish like starter/main/desert, character such as traditional/standard/surprising,the origin could be italian/french/scandinavian/etc. - you get the idea…

Over time I’ve accumulated a nice variety of wonderful recipes in my Evernote cookbook. In fact whenever I get a new cookbook, I start adding the ones that seem most interesting to me and use it as shopping inspiration when I’m right at the supermarket. It’s a great and personalised resource!

This simple trick allows me for a far easier workflow:

Same situation as in my earlier example: It’s after work, idea to cook a surprise dinner – but…

1. I remember “scallops” – and type it into the search field of my Evernote notebook on my iPhone.
2. Because the Evernote service did it’s OCR magic on every picture that I have taken earlier of the ingredients lists of every recipe that I captured so far, it will now instantly narrow down my search results to just those that contain scallops. I could narrow down further by applying tags – i.e. for autumn, main and surprising if necessary.
   Guess what: No need to drive home, no need to flip through hundreds of recipe book pages, etc. Saves me 1 hour at least.
3. Even better: Not only have I quickly found a great recipe – I also have the ingredients list for it at hand. Literally. I can immediately start my shopping.

That’s 1 search on my iPhone instead of driving home first, looking up stuff, writing things on paper and only then driving back to a shop before finally driving home once more… That’s the 1h plus x that makes the difference between stress and a relaxed and yum evening. Simple but so good.

A NOTE OF CAUTION
This workflow can turn out quite powerful. My girl and I got married this summer. Just be aware ;-)

1. Start with how I like to use my documents
2. Derive the best fitting tools and workflows to process the files
3. Make sure my capture machinery supports these workflows

So I’ve spent a day on tackling question #1 and here’s my outcome:

For me all depends on the right mix of security and convenience.

Security is relevant on the interwebs as much as I don’t want to write my tax statements on a blanket and flag it from my balcony. Without convenience I know I won’t keep to my workflows. Unfortunately nice convenience all too often goes with loss of security and vice versa.

Hence I decided for 3 levels of security and try to find the most convenient ways to handle these with software and/or services.

• Level 1 = High Security = Stuff related to identity and/or money, legal data, recipe of Granny’s apple pie, etc.
• Level 2 = Casual Security = If anyone was capable of breaking this security level they would know more attractive targets than stealing my – ahm – administrational correspondence with my landlord, etc.
• Level 3 = No Worries = Groceries lists, recipes (other than Granny’s…), manuals, notes on planned vacation,etc.

So what would be convenient? My general requirements are:

• Accessibility from my Mac and iOS devices
• Reliable, automatic sync between all instances
• Easy adding, using and forwarding of data/documents

So for each level of security I must now find a tool that delivers to this level of convenience. Anything below is not enough. Got some suspects on my mind and will examine. Stay tuned.

I’d love to hear if anyone has different perspectives on this – just use the comments.

Learn

An excellent resource for many things around Mac productivity are the MacPowerUsers Podcasts by Katie Floyd and David Sparks. Episode #085 is all about Paperless and covers the topic in over an hour.

Even better, a while ago David has published an entire eBook about going Paperless. This covers lots of relevant tools and methodology through text and diagrams and even demonstrates short bits in the form of screencasts so you can see how exactly things work on a Mac. In fact that book finally got me started on my project. If you think about doing a Paperless project, start with reading Davids book. No better resource that I know of. And no, sadly I’m not affiliated ;-)

So, David structures the topic in 3 main parts 1. Capture, 2. Process and 3. Use. I think this “phase approach” makes a lot of sense.  The 3 phase structure is perfect to a) give you the entire picture and b) help you develop ideas of what might work for you in detail. Different people will have different requirements and personal preferences for each phase and hence choose different tools and create their own workflows.

Now, whatever tools you choose, at the end of each phase there has to be a specific outcome – regardless of the setup. It’s simply the input for the next part of the overall workflow.

Start from the End

This made me think that in order to design the setup that works best for me, I should actually start from the end of the process. Start with getting clear about how I would actually like to use my documents. Start with thinking about phase 3.

• On which devices will I use my documents?
• Use documents online or offline?
• Share stuff with my wife?
• Use through specific apps or rather in a more universal folder structure?
• What tools do I actually enjoy using?
• How do I like to work?

Thinking about these phase 3 (use) aspects, it becomes obvious that the answers have a big impact on how phase 2 (process) would ideally have to look like. Simple example: If you like the comfort of a dedicated piece of software for handling your documents, then it’s worth considering to do the OCR processing of your documents through the Evernote service. The other way round – if you prefer working with raw file structures, then your OCR processing has to happen somewhere else. Phase 3 impact on phase 2.

Even more importantly: If you don’t like how you’ll use your stuff after you’ve gone paperless, it’s just not worth the effort. After all this is supposed to make our lives better ;-) And if it does not feel better, if it’s rather annoying than fun, then in the end you’ll automatically fall back to zero. So make sure you design your use-scenario in a way that you really really like.

Isn’t that great – in order to make sure your Paperless project becomes a success, you better start with the fun part :-) There are trial versions of software, there are freemium packages of storage solutions, etc. Take a look at them, play with them! Most likely Don McAllister has done one of his excellent screencasts on your selection! Finally choose what feels right for you and maybe invest an extra Dollar or Euro or Yen in that solution. It’s a good investment.