Interview Two Lessons Summary

We'll cover some of the advantages and disadvantages of Aunt Polly's recommendations in the pros and cons list later. Right now let's look at a summary of the lessons that have been noted after this interview.

Well, Aunt Polly suggested what would be a single folder printout of the information that could be kept in a central location. Aunt Polly did discuss the fact that a word processor could be used not only for the generation of this single folder but it could also be a way to store the data. As noted in the first interview where Tim mentioned keeping a card catalog if you use the single folder option then you still have a single location where all of the information would be stored and it would normally require you to cross the office to get to where the folder is sitting. If you choose to keep the printed information in the single folder then you can still keep any electronic files as backups in case someone can't find or something happens to the printed folder.

Another approach is where you use the word processor as the main data storage option and only keep a printed copy as your file or backup copy for emergencies or accidents that could cause you not to have access to the electronic word processor files. One advantage of this is that most people in an office setting can work with some type of word processor software package. And again just as with the card file option from the first interview you are not limited to any specific structure when storing your data. You have a blank sheet of paper that you can use as you see fit to store your information. And if you want to include new information then you just enter it wherever you deem appropriate. You can keep the information in a single file or you can use multiple files to store the information. Also by keeping the information in the word processor files most OS's used in current office settings allow you to have up to 255 characters in the file names which will give you plenty of options for descriptive file names. And by adding directories to the mixture you can expand the options for storing the information in some form of indexed systems. So, for example you have a file named "susan_grey-company_president.doc" and you had that file in a directory "abc_corp-austin_texas". Then you could have all of the files for the ABC Corporation that is located in Austin, TX in that one directory. And you could find the file for Susan Grey just by looking in the file directory.

Aunt Polly also touched on the idea of having all of the electronic files on one system (either on a single person's system or on a separate system in the office). And while there can be some merits in this approach if you have a Local Area Network (LAN) or some type of file sharing capability in your office you might be better off with putting the files in some type of shared or communal area where everyone in the office can access the files from their individual computers.

The above section covers some of the key lessons noted after the interview with Aunt Polly. If you have any insights in this approach or any other thoughts that you feel would enhance the lessons above remember that the built-in comments system is there for you.

Before we go to the next page take out a piece of paper (or use part of the other piece you used before) and your favorite writing instrument and see how many pros and cons that you can come up with regarding this approach.

When you have listed your pros and cons continue to our pros and cons list.