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The Low-Cost Cure For 'Bad Search' by Doug Henschen
September 1, 2004
I've now seen the umpteenth poll on how much time we all waste searching for information: 70 percent say they spend four-plus hours per week doing so, according to the latest research from Delphi Group.
The cost to business and government, the studies all emphasize, is tremendous: $31 billion in lost productivity, claims a recent study by Find/SVP. The answer, we're told, is either a massive taxonomy and classification initiative, a six-figure investment in a new search engine or the next release of the Windows operating system.
My low-cost prescription for improved productivity is user training and better foldering and file-naming practices. I'm sure many "experienced" computer users would balk at taking a half-hour course on mastering e-mail interfaces, search tools and Microsoft Internet Explorer; yet I can't tell you how many times I've seen otherwise bright people amazed to see files instantly reclassified by date, sender/author, file size, subject and so on when you click on a directory header.
Search tools present another opportunity for basic training. If you don't use quotes, plus signs, minus signs or the words "OR," "NEAR" or "NOT" when searching gets tough, I'm talking to you. (Visit Google’s “Advanced Search Tips” for the short primer.) If the most delicate egos won't sign up for courses on the basics, find or develop highly visual training materials that can be quickly read by people at all levels.
When it comes to foldering and file naming, mission-critical files usually benefit from programmatic controls or, at the very least, established practices. The file you're reading, for example, was saved in our publishing system as "0904_tr_columns_context.qps" (publication date, publication, content type and filename), and the "save as" menu offered no choice as to where it would be saved — the folders are predetermined and metadata applied automatically.
Where and how I name and save files before publishing is entirely up to me, and I'm sure most organizations leave ad hoc decisions to employees, offering little or no guidance. Six years ago, our IT admin encouraged me (although it wasn't a formal policy or company practice) to create a personal folder on a shared network drive. I've saved everything related to my work in that folder (and some 32 subfolders) ever since. While a few colleagues have had bad experiences with hard drive crashes, I've taken advantage of RAID storage and nightly backups. There's not enough network storage for all, you say? Well, then, you'd better help employees figure out which selected folders and files are crucial enough to the business to be worthy of backups.
Good foldering and file-naming practices focus on subject or function (rather than owner/author, creation/edit dates or other values available as metadata). Names should be consistent and concise (with eight or fewer characters) for easy navigation. Avoid repeating information available at a higher or lower level of the hierarchy (you don't need to use "contract" in the file name, for example, if it's in a "Contracts" folder).
If you have fewer than 10 subfolders in your personal file plan, you're probably under organized, lumping too many disparate files into each folder. If you have more than 30 subfolders, the opposite may be true (oops, time for me to purge my files). It's up to IT and business units to establish best practices and spot consistent subjects, functions and matching folders that should be maintained for or by everyone — keeping in mind that employees come and go and need information used by predecessors.
Better search engines, classification tools and taxonomies have their place — particularly in large organizations that have been through mergers and reorganizations. But don't let big investments become a Band-Aid for poor training and a lack of best practices. With $31 billion in productivity at stake, an ounce of prevention is worth a lot of money. E-mail your best tips, practices and horror stories, and we'll publish the standouts in an upcoming issue.
Doug Henschen is editor in chief of Transform.
www.transformmag.com
Marketscape / Mobilize is now MobileVue, Inc.
Our products:
- Map.Promote also known as WebCD
- Mobile Access Portal
- Dynamic Business Modeling
As you may be aware, the products provided straight-forward
communication solutions for companies looking to proactively
deliver up-to-date information to
- its employees, working out of a branch office or home
office,
- its vendors, with limited knowledge of technology
- its resellers with limited access or time to company information
- its customers whose attention you so covet.
As a prior customer of Mobilize, we are very interested in
working with you to deliver cost-effective solutions to meet your productivity needs.
Please call us at 310-553-9588 or email us at customer@MobileVue.com.
We would welcome an opportunity to speak with you.
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