Recommendations for keeping lots of paperwork organized and on track for completion?

April 13, 2009 8:14 PM

I will have a fair amount of paperwork to organize and complete over the next year. I'd like to know about any efficient methods (preferably electronic) to keep track of my progress, needed information, and deadlines for each section of paperwork.

I will be starting a graduate program in education soon and have been warned by students in the program that staying on top of all of the paperwork that must be completed is a big challenge. I'd like to have some ideas for a system or two for organizing and completing all of the paperwork before I start getting swamped.

I normally use a to-do list and/or planner for completing projects and assignments. This works relatively well, but I'd like to keep better track of my progress as I complete sections of paperwork and have either software or some other electronic document to do so. Does anyone have a system for doing this that they find especially helpful? Is there good (and relatively inexpensive or free) software that will help me do this?

posted by wiskunde to education (3 comments total)

I'm not sure I completely understand why a simple to-do list with due dates wouldn't work for you, but I'm guessing that it's because each paperwork 'task' is actually a long-running thing with multiple steps and tasks to be done.

I use Highrise for managing my contact with companies, banks, etc. It's an app that lets you keep a list of contacts, and then for each one you can add dated notes ("Called X, no answer, left a message."), and associated tasks ("Try calling X again."), which can also have due dates assigned to them.

I'm thinking that you could use it for tracking your paperwork projects, putting in each project as a 'contact'. You could then add a note whenever you do something or make progress on that item, and leave yourself task reminders for the next piece that needs to be done, or for information that you need to find.

It's free for up to 250 'contacts'.
posted by chrismear at 2:37 AM on April 14

I outline a grid on a whiteboard with a permanent marker, with each column representing a phase of the paperwork (printed out, 1st draft, reviewed, signature, final copy, submitted etc). Or excel. I get peculiar pleasure out of watching the tick boxes grow (a stars on the refrigerator thing). Also putting dates on the wall that big make them harder to ignore.

There are also iphone aps that allow you to 'graphically' display how many of your 'to do's you've checked off by week or month, but since the tasks are arbitrary in size, this seems a little silly to me.
posted by iiniisfree at 8:09 AM on April 14

Yes, exactly, chrismear. I'm sorry I did not make that clear. I believe many of the task will have multiple steps, several people to contact, etc. Highrise sounds quite helpful. Thank you!

inniisfree, that sounds like an excellent way to visualize my progress, thank you!
posted by wiskunde at 9:01 AM on April 15