PLAN 81

THIS PLAN IS WORTH $10,000 TO THE MAN
WHO USES IT

No doubt you’ll agree after reading this plan that this
business man is of the always-up-and-doing type, and that
his plan is not only a profitable time saver for him, but
one which most of us can use.

“I have a filing cabinet which I can call my ‘$10,000 file,’ ” says a Georgia business man, “and I sincerely believe it’s worth more than that to me as a time-saving plan, for it matters not what subject I want, what idea, plan or clipping; it can usually be found in this mine of information, located just at the right of my desk.

” For filing any item of interest I use a plain sheet of paper with the word ‘Subject,’ a blank line, and a file number printed at the top. All my clippings, pictures, and photographs are pasted on these sheets and filed under the proper head. As the pasted leaves would ordinarily occupy too much room, we use an old-time copying press to press them out smooth.

“Another feature of my desk plan is a simple method of keeping daily memoranda in connection with my mail trays. On reaching my desk in the morning, I find all letters needing my attention in a basket on my left. As I answer the letters they go into the basket on my right. When the secretary takes this basket, she puts another in its place.

“It is her job to keep number 2 empty; and mine to keep number 1 empty. Each basket has a handle about 3 by 10 inches attached to one end in which movable memorandum cards are inserted every morning. Cards are made out for each day of the month, one for her and another for me. Most of these tabs are always in a stand before me so that I can jot down items that are far ahead, and compare figures with those for the same month last year.

PLAN 82

HAVE YOU TRIED THIS “THINK-OUT-LOUD”
PLAN FOR HANDLING YOUR BIG
PROBLEMS?

The man whose plan is described below was up against a
problem a lot of us encounter. He settled it, as you will
see, in an unusual yet ‘funny-I-didn’t-think-of-it-before”
manner.

An executive, who realized more and more that his opportunities for constructive thinking were narrowing because of the rapid accumulation of detail, hit on this simple plan for developing new ideas. In its operation he has measurably increased his value to the business.

Every morning, as soon as he has looked through his most important mail, he dictates to his stenographer for 15 minutes. “What he says is not addressed to anyone. It often does not even consist of complete sentences. He is simply thinking aloud about improvements and ideas for the welfare of the business, and he finds he can concentrate better in this manner.

After he has finished dictating, the stenographer types the suggestions and files them in a looseleaf book kept for the purpose. It takes the sales manager but a moment to glance regularly over this diary and judge what his ideas may be worth. He crosses off those which seem visionary or useless. He thus frees his mind for work on the larger problems and improvements which constantly come to him for decision.

At his invitation, other executives of the company drop in once a week or so and run over the pages he has added to the volume. If they see any suggestion which strikes them as having possible value they make a note of it for later discussion with him. In this way his plan also brings him more often into contact with other thinkers in the organization and he gets a broader viewpoint of his work.

“But, after all, the best feature about the plan,” he says, “is that for at least 15 minutes every day, I keep my mind fixed intently on constructive phases of the business. There is always so much executive detail which must be done that really progressive planning is likely to be thrust to one side, without a provision like this.

A good many of my ideas don’t amount to shucks; but if I only hit one real plan for boosting this business each month, I have gained on myself. The fact is, my average of workable ideas is a good deal higher than that.”

PLAN 83

THIS PLAN CORRECTED A LOSS OF TIME BY
REMOVING THE CAUSE

No doubt you’ve had this experience—drop everything
you’re doing and wait for supplies of one sort or another
when you unexpectedly ran short of them. That is why
you’ll appreciate this plan. It isn’t a cast iron method
to be applied to every situation, but just a suggestion for
preventing recurrences. It organizes your desk into a
“partner.”

A standardized desk arrangement and standard desk equipment is a western manager’s plan to prevent complaints due to lack of desk supplies and the resulting time waste.

First, the desks are divided into three classes—A, B, and C. Each class of desk is given a standard arrangement, so that any person can go to any desk in the office and find whatever he is looking for. A Class A desk is illustrated in Figure 16. Standard equipment and supplies are put in each desk according to its classification, and printed slips are in stock for the office boys, whose duty it is to see that the supplies do not run out.

All desks are inspected twice a week. In Figure 17 is shown one of the slips by which an office boy checks up the equipment and supplies for a Class B desk. Every item is specified, with its symbol, standard quantity, proper placing and—for supplies—the maximum and minimum quantities.

The standardized desk plan of another office manager is indicated in Figure 18. It really is an organized “desk partner.” You will notice that the papers, records, and memoranda which the executive needs are kept in the two deep vertical files at his right hand, while general data and memoranda, stationery supplies, and the like, occupy the four drawers at the left. The standard arrangement for the top is as shown; ruler, scissors, and other large tools are kept in the middle drawer. Erasers, clips, pins, and extra pencils are stored in a tray in the top left-hand drawer.

PLAN 84

HERE’S ONE WAY TO GET THE JUMP ON
IRRITATING TRIFLES

This plan is a combination of two ideas used by as many
busy men. You’ll admit there’s no need of worrying over
details which you can turn over to others, and that’s why
their knacks for saving time should interest you.

An executive, who assigns daily to his assistants a number of detail tasks which are individually of such importance that none can be permitted to be overlooked or delayed, has overcome the worry and time loss so often coincident with such supervision, by using a small duplicate-leaf memorandum book as a means of checking up the work.

This plan obviates unnecessary personal inquiry and follow-up, and is a relief from irritating trifles. All sheets in the book have printed at the top: “Memo from Mr. Rice to .” The blank line is left for the name of the assistant who receives the instructions. Another line is provided for the date. The sheets are serially numbered in pairs.

Each task is’ assigned on one of these memoranda in duplicate. The original is detached and handed to the assistant while a carbon copy of the same serial number remains in the book on the executive’s desk. A quick look through the memoranda each morning shows him just what work is outstanding, how it is divided up, and what progress the force is making. Each item also indicates to him in black and white the value and speed of each assistant. He can also tell at once whether any- work is lagging and go after it.

When a task is completed the original “memo” is returned to him with a notation on its face to that effect. A checkmark is then made on the carbon copy in the hook and the original destroyed. By tearing off the upper right-hand corners of all sheets representing completed tasks, those still unfinished can be quickly seen.

The plan thus not only serves as a ready indicator of the standing of all assigned work, but provides a check against any of it being forgotten.

In another concern various requisitions, orders, and items from assistants require the O. K. of the manager on both the original and carbon copy. His minutes are valuable, so he cuts down this necessary routine by using a punch bearing his initials. This instantly and plainly marks both the original and duplicate by one motion.

PLAN 85

“I CAN’T BEGIN TO TELL HOW MUCH TIME
AND WORRY THIS PLAN HAS SAVED”

So writes the Iowa man who describes it below and it
certainly seems adaptable to many circumstances. You’ll
concede that he has surely received much benefit from it
—so why not you, too?

“After I had installed a method of keeping track of the sales in each department in order to manage my business better,” writes an Iowa business man, “I still found I was pressed for the time to analyze the figures and adjust the stocks to insure the most profit. I finally hit upon a plan to overcome this hitch.

” I had a blackboard put up on the office wall opposite my desk. At the top I put three headings, ‘estimate,’ ‘actual,’ and ‘remarks,’ and left a space for the date, ‘week ending .’ At the left of the board I listed the various departments. Each Monday morning I jot down in round numbers in the column under ‘estimate’ what I feel each department should do that week or rather what I should like to see done. Then at the close of the week my bookkeeper enters from her records, under ‘actual,’ the net sales from each source. She also adds under ‘remarks’ any special point in connection with each department’s showing.

“To visualize the results even more emphatically she uses white and red tabs on the board. For instance, if a department has gone away below previous sales or is showing other signs of sleepiness she indicates the danger with a red signal hung on a hook at the left of the actual figures. If a department is showing up unusually well she displays a white tab to show me that I need have no concern in that direction.

“I find the plan has some splendid points. Instead of having to go over a lot of figures and keep track of weekly reports on my desk, I have before me out of the way of other details a bird’s-eye view of each week’s business. If I am rushed the first part of the week I need not feel compelled to go into a thorough analysis of all the figures. I take the red-signaled amounts first and immediately get busy to find the remedy. Often I am able to change the sales policy of some department in time to overcome what might have been a serious loss and so, you see, my plan pays in actual cash as well as in peace of mind.

“As the board is so easy to glance at, it gives me an opportunity between times to study the business we have done and work out new ideas for increasing sales. I like to see how near the actual figures come to my estimates. As a result, the board is really an inspiration to push sales all over the store. There’s no danger of my forgetting that weekly report, because it’s right be- fore me all the time. The board has a curtain in case I desire for any reason to cover up the figures. I can’t begin to tell how much time and worry this plan has saved.”

“I find also,” this man continues, “that my minor executives, and even some of the other workers, use the board as a guide to their own work. When they obtain information about the business from the board, instead of from me, time is saved all around, business receives a fresh impetus, and management is much easier.”

PLAN 86

“SAVES A LOT OF TIME”

You may say that this plan is a simple one, and perhaps
it is; still very often the most simple of ideas, once put to
work in either an office or a store, produce the most sur-
prising results.

“In considering the source of the plan it has occurred to me that often a good suggestion may be available in other businesses for my own work. I now make it a point to watch for good ideas in out-of-the-way places.”

“I have an interview plan,” says a business man located in the Middle “West, “which saves a lot of my time and insures obtaining the information I desire. Formerly I often was annoyed after a regular caller had left my office to find that a particular subject I intended to take up with him had been forgotten. Especially was this the case when anyone called unexpectedly.

” To overcome the difficulty I started a little index of my business callers, with their names arranged alphabetically. This I keep in a small box on my desk. Whenever any item which I may desire to take up with one of these man occurs to me I jot it down in a word or two on his card.

“Whenever an habitual caller is announced, it takes but the time he spends in walking from the outside office to my door to glance at the topics on his record card and prime myself for the interview. As the names all show up clearly on tabs and are few in number, no effort is required to find the information. When the visitor enters my office I know exactly what I want to talk over with him and I shape the interview accordingly.

“This preparation, too, saves a great deal of time in conducting an interview, for it automatically tends to make it more concise. As a result, I never let a man saunter in and start talking at random. I get my business, including the topics noted on his card, finished first and close the subject. Then I ask him what I can do for him and am able to get through with the call in record time. Further, by conducting my interview with him first in the rapid-fire style of a busy man, he becomes inspired with somewhat the same spirit and gets to the point in half or a quarter of the time he would otherwise take.”

PLAN 87

“SAVED ME HALF A DAY,” DECLARES THE MAN
WHO USES THIS PLAN

Sounds too good to be true? Maybe it does, but the
executive below who uses it tells you exactly how he pass it
across and, as you read, you’ll see it’s not so impossible
after all.

“I frequently save as much as half a day of my time,” says a Detroit executive, “simply by having my schedule arranged to insure the right ‘kick-off’ at the start. Thus I find that it pays to take the subject of psychology into consideration and that there is a best way to direct both myself and those under me.

“I formerly jumped into my correspondence immediately on my arrival at the office. The time would go by quickly and there would always be what seemed necessary interruptions. One after another my men would ask for ‘just a minute’ to take up some questions and noon would come upon me with no conference held to consider important topics with all the selling force at the same time.

” I finally got around to the conference, the men were restless and I was more or less fagged. Consequently we didn’t make the most of our conference time. I quietly went on a still hunt to see where I was wrong and quickly concluded that I started the day poorly. My new plan solves the difficulty.

” Now my conference with the salesmen comes first. We go right at our problems when we are all fresh and we take care of any point which may come up and settle it on the spot. There is rapid action at these early morning meetings and we get away with items in short order that before bothered me at intervals during most of the day.

“Not only does this early meeting ginger me up for my other duties but it starts the men off with more ‘pep’ as well. After the conference I reserve a few moments for the individual salesmen who may wish an interview with me on any particular point of the work.

“Next I tackle my correspondence. As our day be- gins at 8:30 it is usually 10 or a little later when I start on letters. Under propitious circumstances I finish in time to spend half an hour in tabbing on paper the next morning’s conference subjects and other work. This in itself saves time on the tasks of the following day. Often, now, I have opportunity before noon to do reading.

PLAN 88

A PLAN WHICH CONSERVES TIME FOR
IMPORTANT PROBLEMS

At first glance you might wonder if you could adapt this
plan to your own uses. Not directly, perhaps, but it
illustrates several interesting fundamentals, and whether
your business is large or small, they’re worth considering.

An executive in the Middle “West has cut down his correspondence detail work to a negligible minimum by planning far enough ahead to avoid receiving more than a few letters to answer. Here is a point on business analysis that offers every man a suggestive line of thought.

The unit of money taken in for this company is 5 cents, and every nickel means, perhaps, a transaction with a more or less “touchy” individual. The unit of operation is a car which may transport a hundred of these fault-finding individuals. Anything which will start these people to writing letters will bring a flood of mail that an army of clerks could not cope with. Any system permitting a detail to break across the line between department head and executive will end in an avalanche that will overwhelm the executive. In the end he will spend his days signing papers. He will have no time save for non-essentials.

This president blocked that gap in the dike before it ever appeared. He departmentalized the company’s work so thoroughly that serious complaints and problems requiring his personal attention are rare. He was far- seeing enough to select superintendents and heads of departments whose work would be performed so diligently that a flood of mail would be impossible. He figures his small stack of mail now is nine tenths less than it otherwise would be.

To avoid further loss of time and motion, there is a meeting of each department once a week; likewise a conference once a week for all department heads. This latter meeting hears and discusses the problems in each department and eliminates interdepartmental letter writing by concentrating nearly all discussions and decisions into that one session. Exit, therefore, a useless pile of mail.

“Our men talk it out rather than write it out,” says the business man. ” That gives me time for more profitable tasks than signing papers or reading them.”

He has worked out other detail methods making for personal efficiency. For example, his secretary takes the name and business connection of everyone who calls him on the telephone and hands him a slip of paper containing this information before he lifts his receiver. At a glance he gets facts which sometimes would take a minute to convey. That saves a little time. It also avoids occasional misunderstandings. The method requires a secretary with real intelligence and considerable discretion, of course. But he knows from experience that it makes for time economy.

PLAN 89

ALTHOUGH 10 YEARS OLD, THIS PLAN IS
STILL SAVING TIME

Ten years is a real record of service for one ideal You
may say “it’s too old,” but perhaps there is an idea in it
that you can turn into a time saver for you in a brand
new way.

One manager, who found himself worrying over a mass of detail, took his work to pieces one day about 10 years ago and out of the resulting analysis devised an entirely new plan for handling his routine.

At the outset he saw that he must have more time for his own creative work and for directing, with less effort, the work of others. But he feared that small details would be neglected which might lead to serious consequences.

To put a cheek on these details and also save as much time as possible he started a file strictly for his own use. From this file he excluded all papers that properly belonged to the general office file, but retained the same arrangement of subjects as the general file. In the lower right double drawer of his desk he placed 31 ordinary vertical file folders, numbered from 1 to 31, representing the days of the month.

These folders take anything from a scrap of sandpaper to a standard size letterhead and this manager uses them as a sort of universal reminder. He dedicated the right-hand side pocket of his coat as a temporary extension to this file, and in it he slips any memoranda that he takes when away from his desk. These are jotted down on any piece of paper that happens to
be handy.

Every morning he pulls out the folder for that day, goes through it for items of immediate importance and then files in it the notes and letters that have accumulated in his pocket, putting the folder back of the other folders to serve as a filing space for the same day a month later. Some of the notes can, of course, be destroyed, as the items to which they refer have been disposed of. Some memoranda must be refiled, and others are extracted from the file to be acted upon. Some recurring items (such as monthly reports) have a sheet or sheets which come out every month; these are at once returned as a reminder for the following month when, of course, they again come to hand for attention.

All the petty checks which are so necessary in business are represented by a note; for example, “Check up mailing system” means that it is advisable to make a casual tour of that department to determine how the mailing system is operating. This need only be done at infrequent intervals, and any lapses which may be found are so vigorously brought to the attention of those responsible that every effort is made by employees to keep work high in quality.

The great bulk of material that this manager files consists of copies of letters containing promises and acknowledgments. These copies are simply slipped into the file folders for the dates when they should be acted upon.

PLAN 90

“SAVES TIME FOR EVERYBODY CONCERNED”

When you stop to consider that advertising in some form
or other is being used by practically every business, you’ll
see the broad field for just such plans as this. It has a
direct time-saving value, and also helps increase accuracy,
thus eliminating many incidental time losses.

“We have a system for cuts and photographs which has saved everybody in our office a lot of time,” says the manager of a middle western firm which uses many photographs in his advertising. The system keeps track of an enormous number of photographs, negatives, wash drawings, zinc etchings, wax engravings, and all the information about them, such as who is using them, with the correct address, and where electros may be found.

” The key to the plan is the assignment of serial numbers to all photographs, after arranging them by sizes. Numbers from 1 to 5,000 are reserved for miscellaneous sizes; 5,001 to 10,000 are for 4 by 5 inch negatives; 10,001 to 20,000 for 5 by 7 inch, and so on. Each negative is marked with a serial number and the date it was made.

” For indexing purposes, prints are pasted on two 6 by 8 inch cards, one for a numerical index and the other for the subject index.

“Electrotypes bear the same number as the original cut, followed by a serial number running from one up showing the number of electros made from the cut. The numerical index also serves to keep track of cuts, as the cards show the number of the case in which they belong.

“When a cut leaves the office, a record is made of it on a card shown in Figure 19. This card, filed alphabetically, shows the name of the firm to which the cuts are sent, the address, and number of cuts delivered. “When the cuts are returned the cards are destroyed.

” This system is particularly effective as a time-saving device from the executives down to the clerks who handle the negatives and cuts. It also eliminates the little time losses that so often result, perhaps indirectly, from a faulty system of recording.”

PLAN 91

FOR 10 YEARS THIS PLAN HAS SAVED TIME
AND NERVE WEAR AND TEAR

This plan is unique. It’s effective, too. Perhaps every
man who reads it can’t use it, but one thing is sure:
You can’t tell how much it may help you out until you do
read it. And it’s in the users own words.

This is a filing plan that suits me down to the ground. It will suit you, too, if you do the same general kind of work I do, or have about the same problems when it comes to finding “that document” in a hurry.

What is my work?

It is of a non-routine nature. It is always different. No steady stream of reports and correspondence flows across my desk, the same day after day, to be handled by “referring” it to “the proper party” or answering by dictated letter. It runs, instead, eternally along new paths. First, there is some condition in the business, not yet covered by routine or ruling, that needs to be pruned or watered. We discuss the matter. We reach a certain unanimity as to the right kind of pruning or watering. Then these remedial measures must be translated into detailed procedure and concrete words and acts.

I expressly abstain from stating the name of my job. The minute I do that every man whose job has a different name concludes this article is not for him. In reality, this article is for anyone whose work, in essence, is pro- motional and involves masses of hodgepodge memoranda, letters, blueprints, schedules, reports, notes of conferences, and the like. It is for the man who frequently “wants what he wants” out of this mass instantaneously to clinch his point in the eager talks so characteristic of uncharted work. It may be a complaint from a consumer; it may be a clipping from the morning’s news; it may be a rough drawing by one’s favorite artist; but one wants it quick!

Here’s the plan: the moment I can get any paper or document off my desk and into a drawer I do so. I use only one drawer. Everything is put into it, one thing on top of another. This is no sorting, no classification. Into the drawer it goes, the latest always on top, to be covered in its turn by the next paper, and so on. When I want to get any recent paper, I simply look in this one drawer for it. Evidently, the more recent it is, the oftener I shall want it—and the more recent it is, again, the nearer the top it is, and the easier to find.

That is the first half of the system. The basis is not alphabetical, nor subject, nor nature of document. ” Recency” is the sole basis. By simply laying one thing in one drawer, hour by hour, day after day, you automatically insure that the oftenest wanted paper is the one nearest the top and therefore easiest to find. You “file” as you go along. Whatever you want you will find in the drawer. You always get it. You get it inside of 30 seconds; often instantaneously. There is no pressing the button for the “filing clerk”; no wait for her to return, dismayed and fearful of rebuke, to report that the paper cannot be found but “the boys are looking for it; they think Mr. Drew had it, but he is sick today.” That is all eliminated.

“But what,” you ask, “happens when this magic drawer becomes full to overflowing?” When that happens, and it happens regularly, of course, I take out the entire mass and lay it on my desk upside down. The oldest pieces are now on top. I turn each piece over in its turn and one glance tells me whether it should remain in the drawer or whether, by the lapse of time, it has become “dead”—and it is wonderful how many papers, in constant use one week, snatched out and exhibited time and time again, become later mere antiquities because the work they represent is done and disposed of.

The trashiest of the “dead” pieces go in the waste basket. The rest—those that may possibly come to life some day or be wanted in connection with another task—are filed—this time in the ordinary and accepted sense of the word “file.” They go either into the general office files, if they belong there, or they go into my own private subject file if they are such that no other department
could or would want them.

So I go on, working from the bottom up until the newness and recency of the pieces I encounter warns me they are likely to be wanted any moment because they concern work still unfinished. There I stop, and restore the now much reduced pile to its drawer, to be the foundation of today’s and tomorrow’s and next week’s accumulations.

I got this system from an advertising expert who is one of the shrewdest and cleverest judges of office methods I ever met. He has used the method for years and it works perfectly. I never knew him to be flurried or hurried in laying his hand on any paper. The precise document he needed seemed to appear in his hand as though it had materialized from thin air. He would simply reach to the one drawer and draw out what he required while he was talking about it.

A good many business men—retailers and other heads of businesses—unconsciously carry out the first part of this system. They let papers accumulate in piles from day to day. Very much so! But this is planlessness rather than plan. These men allow papers to pile up unsorted, not because they have any method in so doing, but merely because that is a lazy man’s way. “When they want anything from the heap, there is a hurried, scrambling search, with subdued “cussing” perhaps, but the desired document seldom is found.

I sometimes think my method has a kind of philosophical basis. If we look upon a file as a kind of mechanical memory (and sometimes it is called so) then the ideal basis for filing would be that of the human memory—and we all know that facts are filed in our brains mostly by “recency.” “We remember today’s events best, yesterday’s less well, and so on.

I have used this system for 10 years, with infinite saving of nerve wear and tear.

PLAN 92

A NEW APPLICATION OF AN OLD IDEA

The business man who uses this plan finds that it saves
him much time, not only in getting the information he
wants, but by freeing him of a great deal of responsibility
for remembering.

To keep in touch with the various business conventions and trade gatherings that command his attention, a business man who wishes to be informed about these meetings has had built a wooden bulletin board that now stands against the wall of his private office. It can be covered with a curtain if desired. This board is about 6 feet square, and is divided into 12 perpendicular grooves
—one for each month of the year. It is illustrated in Figure 20.

Into these grooves his secretary inserts cards, 3 by 5 inches in size, upon each of which is typewritten a brief memorandum referring to some gathering that might be of interest to him, and including the date and the
place. In this way he can keep before his desk notices for months ahead.

This method has an advantage in that it forces the coming events upon the attention in a striking form. There are, of course, a number of other ways, including card files, for filing information of this type, but this man happens to prefer the board because it throws the data before him in an unusually emphatic manner.

The cards are held in position by small wooden knobs. Metal hooks or clips would, of course, serve the same purpose.

PLAN 93

USELESS MOTIONS STOOD NO CHANCE
AGAINST THIS PLAN

Leaving his desk at frequent intervals and hunting for this
or that paper or memorandum found no favor with this
man. He analyzed his needs and tells below how he
saved himself both time and labor.

“A question I put to myself was:” says a San Francisco business man, “how can I arrange my equipment and systematize my work so that I may accomplish the greatest results with the least effort? In order to answer the question I studied my needs and worked out a new plan, which meant making some changes in my office. They are not many, nor were they costly. But they are saving my time, money and labor.

“I sit in an armless swivel desk chair. I have ar- ranged my entire equipment, as shown in Figure 21, so that I can reach anything I want without leaving that chair.

PLAN 93

” In conjunction with my desk I formerly had a table. I discarded this and substituted a flat-topped typewriter desk. It takes up less room than the table, and adds a typewriter and five drawers to my facilities. A stenographer is available at the pressure of a button, but the typewriter at times is faster and more satisfactory for items that require intimate care. My ‘To be filed’ and ‘Under consideration’ trays are as before. Only I have glued them in place. The ‘Under consideration’ tray is open on the side and folders subdivide it into six compartments.

” The buzzer is now screwed in a handy place; I transferred it from the inner leg of the roll top desk. Pasted on the drawleaf shelf at the right are the telephone numbers I frequently use, while the city directory hangs at the side of the desk. A daily calendar pad enables me to enter appointments. The caller’s chair is set in one position and all papers are well removed from casual eyes.

“By pulling out a drawer of each desk, a drafting board is provided, slightly elevated, at sitting height and in excellent light. Drafting instruments, pens, brushes and other tools are kept in the center drawer of the flat top desk. A spiral pen rack permits quick selections. Scrap books for filing clippings I have placed in the side drawers.

“The low roll top desk carries a large plate glass under which I have placed maps and tables which I use frequently. Stationery is placed immediately above. Copy paper is stored next to the typewriter on the same shelf. My reference library is on the desk top.

“Large photos and the blueprints lie flat in the wide center drawer. A callers’ card-index file is in the right upper drawer. Private letters and data for articles are filed in a lower drawer.

“The cost of the improvement was trifling in view of the advantage of putting my hand at once on anything I need at the very moment I need it.”

PLAN 94
THESE “POCKET-MEMO” PLANS MADE GOOD

A lot in a little space—that’s what the pocket memoranda
idea amounts to. You will no doubt find below a helpful
hint or two which you can apply to your own difficulties.

“I carry the big deals in my head and the details in my pocket,” is the figurative but pointed way one business man describes his plan for making each day count the most. He has on his desk a private memorandum of all his duties. In this way he keeps track of the many branches of his business which require attention. ” I have learned,” he says, “two facts—that a mind burdened with details is not effective as it should be, and that a memorandum supplementing the memory helps to overcome the difficulty.”

His “detail partner” is a looseleaf book, which permits him to discard data no longer needed. This prevents overloading the book and thereby defeating its time-saving purpose. In its present form, this executive considers his memorandum his best business friend. To suit his needs he dates a dozen or more leaves ahead, and makes notes of conferences, deals, or other important items to be considered on those dates.

Each morning the old sheets are taken out and the current date is always kept as the first page in the book. If some little detail remains undone it is tabbed on the next page or entered on a sheet of some convenient day ahead. This keeps the items in the book always fresh. General notes not properly coming on the dated sheets are made on the leaves in the back and torn out when
they have served their purpose.

Loose leaves are now obtainable in such a wide variety of ruled and printed forms, including miniature day books, cash books, journals, and ledgers, that he makes his binder serve a number of uses as his needs require. “When necessary he carries it with him outside the office to record business transactions. Thus temporary entries of personal or business deals are made at times when an
assistant is not at hand, and a concise and accurate record is kept until the time of final entry in the permanent books of the concern.

Another executive carries the pocket memorandum plan even further than the ordinary looseleaf book. He uses a binder of a type that has on the inside of each cover a metal rim for holding half a dozen or more cards tabbed and indexed at the upper edge. These cards, inside one cover, are indexed with the days of the week and month, and inside the other, with letters of the alphabet. A full supply of cards, tabbed for all the days of the year, is kept in a drawer in the office file to be used for the binder as needed. Memorandum notes for future dates may be made on any of the cards as far as a year ahead.

Each Monday morning the cards for the week just starting are taken from the file and placed in the pocket binder. Each morning the tab of the previous day is removed from its top position in the binder and slipped behind the others. The memorandum scheme is in reality a combination office-and-pocket card system and has a distinct advantage in that reminder notes may be made for almost any time in the future.

Another office man has constant need of a readily accessible list of addresses and telephone numbers of business men and personal friends. For this purpose he finds a note book with alphabetically tabbed sections the most satisfactory. He also finds it desirable to keep a small pocket memorandum exclusively for addresses, and uses a permanently bound book for the purpose.

PLAN 95

A PLAN FOR FOLLOWING EACH TASK THROUGH
UNTIL COMPLETED

No busy man wants to spend all his time inquiring how
this or that work is progressing and when it will be finished.
Here’s the method one executive uses to handle this part
of his work automatically. You’ll readily see how simply
it works.

The head of one business now saves more time than he did previously by means of a rapid-action plan of issuing instructions. He has on his desk a looseleaf book, containing sheets in duplicate, like those illustrated in Figure 22. These are numbered serially. Whenever he wishes to give special instructions to any assistant he writes them in this book and sends the carbon duplicate to the designated person or department head. The printed items on the sheet obviate any more writing by the executive than absolutely necessary.

The slip is perforated a little below the center so that the lower portion may be torn off. If by any chance the instructions cannot be carried out by the time indicated, the stub is filled in and returned to the general manager
immediately. In this way he learns at the earliest possible moment the reasons his directions cannot be followed out. As soon as his orders have been taken care of, the upper portion of the slip is signed by the person to whom the work was delegated and returned to the general manager.

This makes it possible for the executive to control certain necessary details of the business from his own desk with the assurance that his instructions will either be followed out on time or he will know the reason why.

PLAN 96

A “FOLLOW-UP” PLAN THAT STRENGTHENED
BUSINESS JUDGMENT

Here’s a plan for installing a follow-up on tasks and
correspondence that certainly is unusual in many ways.
The man who “put it on the office map” has so increased
his powers of decision and capacity for large problems that
he feels sure of its worth to others.

An “intermediate” file for following up correspondence and other items of business is the plan a Kansas City business man has developed to conserve his time and relieve his mind of a multitude of details. He calls it his “remember file” and declares it has strengthened his business judgment and increased his capacity for handling his larger problems. Annoying delays in his correspondence have been eliminated and his instructions are carried out quickly and correctly.

Only subjects to be followed up go into the “remember file.” All permanent data is excluded. The arrangement is simple. Three vertical filing drawers are
provided to hold standard correspondence size manila folders, on which are printed instruction headings. In the space marked “To whom addressed” the file clerk writes the name of the individual or firm to whom the correspondence relates. The initials of the executive are placed in the space marked “Hand this to” and the follow-up date is entered as indicated. The space for initials is included because several heads in the company have adopted this plan.

The carbon copy of all letters and notes has a printed space in the upper right-hand corner for notations in regard to follow-up. When this executive reads and signs his mail, he either marks the carbon for the general file or places a date in the space marked “Follow-up,” which indicates that he wishes it to come to his attention at that time. He simply places the carbon in the outgoing mail
basket, and he knows that it will come to his attention again on the date he has indicated. This relieves him of remembering this particular correspondence until he wishes to take it up again.

Notes and instructions to employees are handled in a similar manner. “Written instructions are given for every assignment. The executive sends a carbon of each to the “remember file,” marked with the date on which he wishes to check up the work. Thus, with no worry or loss of time, he is assured of notification at the time each task should be attended to.

An office boy collects all carbons. He divides them into those marked for the general or permanent file and those for the “follow-up” or “remember file.” For each “follow-up,” he makes out one of the manila folders described above, and files it. The folders are first of all arranged alphabetically under the names of the persons addressed, then they are arranged chronologically according to the follow-up dates, behind the different letters of the alphabet.

Incoming mail, before it goes to the executive, has attached to it any correspondence from the follow-up which pertains to the various subjects taken up in each letter. This eliminates the trouble and delay of hunting correspondence after letters are in the executive’s hands. He has all necessary information at once.

Every morning, after the incoming correspondence is taken care of, the office boy removes from the follow-up file folders marked for the current date and delivers them to the proper desks. The carbons automatically refresh the executive’s memory on the subjects he wishes to take up that day. If the correspondence calls for immediate attention, he holds it for dictation; or, if it cannot be acted upon for a few days longer, he marks another follow-up date on it. If he wishes to dismiss the subject he marks the carbon copy for the general files.

The follow-up on the notes to the employees is handled in a slightly different manner. If a worker calls one of his assignments to the attention of his chief before the follow-up on it comes through, the carbon is simply destroyed. If, however, the executive has received no such notification, he leaves the carbon part way out of the folder and places it in the outgoing basket. The office boy takes it at once to the person to whom the order was
given and waits until a report of some sort is written on the copy. It is then returned to the executive, who takes note of the report and, if he wishes, places a new follow-up date on the instructions.

The real success of this plan, says the originator of it, is due largely to the almost inevitable way in which the folders appear on the dates set for them. His mind is relieved absolutely and yet his judgment is surer, for every vital fact or problem relating to the business is put before him at the right time for decision or final solution.

PLAN 97

KEEPING TRACK OF THE DAY’S LIABILITIES
IN MOMENTS

President Wilson carries a little slip detailing the day’s
appointments in his test pocket. He has a reputation
for always being on time. Here’s another plan also in-
tended to help a busy man keep track of engagements.

A Philadelphia business man keeps tab on his personal appointments by entering them on a 3 by 5 inch card (Figure 23), which he retains in a holder. It provides for morning, afternoon, and evening appointments and covers a period of a week.

If conferences, interviews or special meetings are to be held the following week, the dates are entered on a second card which is kept in the holder just behind the current schedule. Thus, with scarcely any effort, he is able to meet every demand and avoid conflict in arranging each day’s work. And he is not nettled by forgetting important conferences. “It enables me,” he says, “to keep a check on myself.”

At the end of each week, the card for that week is filed away in an index drawer for convenient reference. This history of important business events, in which he takes part, affords a valuable means of verifying dates and other facts in case such questions arise.

PLAN 98

THIS PLAN DID AWAY WITH TAKING
WORK HOME

It’s certainly discouraging to find yourself confronted
with a pile of unfinished work at the close of the day.
Here’s a plan that may help.

“I have never favored having all the details of our organization come to my desk,” says one business man. ” Yet so complex is the problem of keeping in touch with various activities, that for some time I frequently took reports home, or stayed after business hours at my desk ,just trying to find out what was going on.

“There must be some way of simplifying the work, I felt, so I set about developing a system. It took about six months before we found out all its faults and corrected them; then it worked like a charm.

“It is a good deal like a newspaper’s system for handling reporters. The basis of it is an assignment sheet, and a set of files which automatically sort out the completed work, and the various classes of ‘live’ business. The assignment sheet is a daily schedule of work for everybody in the office, even of routine tasks.

” The employees like the system, for it helps them get things done in short order; any papers that are needed can be quickly located by reference to the file and it has been a life saver for me. All carbons of letters and memorandums are made on a special form which contains reference to the individuals in the departments, the assignment sheet, the various files, and a ticker arrangement of dates. By simply checking the destination of the order, the person handling it, and the date, on the carbon of a letter, I know that item of business will be entered on the assignment sheet, and duly attended to at its proper time.

“This system has saved me time in disposing of my mail—this applies as well to every other correspondent in our organization; and it has also saved a tremendous amount of time in overseeing the work, for now I can put the assignment sheet in front of me and line up the situation in a few minutes.”

PLAN 99

AN AUTOMATIC “PRIVATE SECRETARY” THAT
SAVES TIME WITH A VENGEANCE

In this plan you will find time sating reduced almost to
a science. Of course dictating machines and interhouse
telephones may be “fifth wheels” to your business, but do
not therefore pass the plan by; for to do so would be merely
begging the question.

A western business man who believes in making appliances save a lot of his time has his dictating machine sunk in his desk, squarely in front of him and ready for rise. The tube lies at all times beneath his fingers. He has but to lift it to his mouth and turn the switch, when he can begin dictating.

Not only does he handle all his correspondence and interhouse communications in this way, but he makes it a practice to unburden his mind of every little suggestion that occurs to him. Ideas are elusive. They may even take flight while reaching for a note book and pencil. But if you can formulate them into words as they unfold in the mind, escape is much more difficult.

This machine is arranged so conveniently that it is the next thing to an automatic memory for him. It enables him to get ideas down which might never be recorded otherwise—ideas that may mean thousands of dollars to the business. This use, which may be considered incidental by most people, is, in his opinion, the biggest single advantage of the appliance.

A handy intercommunicating telephone directory is another interesting feature of this executive’s office. Instead of having a pendant card, he has a large paper disk fitted over the mouthpiece. This carries the house director as well as the more important local calls. If he happens to forget a number, in the moment that he is waiting for his central to answer, he can spin the disk around until the desired number is directly in front of his eyes. All the telephones in the plant are similarly equipped.

PLAN 100
A PLAN FOR DOING IT IN “HALF THE TIME”

Here you’ll find out just how one business man freed
himself from a mass of minor detail work and accom-
plished more in the same time.

An executive with a Baltimore concern found he was spending too much valuable time going over the voluminous monthly reports of the accounting department. Yet he had to know the vital facts. To eliminate the waste motion he worked out a plan to have each report summarized in the form of a graphic chart. Now in less than half the time he is able to make comparisons and visualize the status of the business.

A written report for various details is attached to the chart, should the executive desire and have time to study the figures further. He finds that one of the main obstacles to the wider use of charts has been the fact that the average office manager believes it is necessary to employ a draftsman to make them up, and that expensive drawing instruments will have to be procured.

“It is true,” he says, “that the average clerk is not trained along these lines; but he very soon can be, for anyone of average intelligence may, with sufficient training, become expert in plotting and drawing curves in a very short time. The drafting consists chiefly of drawing straight lines, and a little lettering, although a typewriter may be used for most of this.

As to the cost of the necessary tools, $4 will more than cover the price of a very complete set. The following list includes everything needed:

3 bottles of drawing ink, one each of black, green,

and red.
1 51/2-inch ruling pen
1 18-inch celluloid straight edge
1 6-inch celluloid triangle
1 fairly hard lead pencil
1 piece of soft rubber

“The cross-section paper, which in my own experience I have found to be most convenient for general use, is made in sheets 15 by 11 inches. Most stationery stores carry it. Each sheet is divided into squares, of which there are 24 one way and 20 the other. Each large square is subdivided into 10 small squares, making the total number of squares 240 one way and 200 the other. This permits the use of a great many kinds of headings.

“When it is desired to make a comparison of various years, a different color of ink is used for each year. With this arrangement it is possible to draw charts on the same sheet for as many years as there are colors of ink.

“The framework for the chart, which has been used with success for some time for keeping track of operating costs, is shown by Figure 24. It is applicable to many uses. Where this form is used, the sheets are kept in a looseleaf binder, and as the figures are available each month the curve is plotted and drawn in, and the book laid on the executive’s desk.”

114 Proved Plans to Save a Busy Man Time

Intro through Plan 10

Plan 11 - 30

Plan 31 - 50

Plan 51 - 80

Plan 81 - 100

Plan 101 - 114

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