Supervisors Guide to
Module 6 | Handling your resources
| Module 6 Objectives | |
|---|---|
| After completing this module you will be able to: | |
| 1 | Explain the importance of storing things systematically |
| 2 | Organize the things you use at work |
| 3 | Find things when you need them. |
Synopsis: A place for everything and everything in its place
Can you find things when you want them? Most of us know someone whose tools are all over the place or whose desk is covered by heaps of paper yet we would be horrified if the books in a library were in heaps on the floor rather than arranged in order on the shelves. That's because we expect to be able to find what we want in a library while a heap of tools or pile of papers represents a personal and private area where we feel we can find anything when we need it.
The fact of the matter is, of course, that a library is a good example of how we should all keep our tools, materials and information, not only so that we can find them when we need them but to allow us to work efficiently in the meantime.
The principles used in running a library, namely the systematic storage of information, with ways of finding it when it's needed, apply just as much to the things we use in our own work. This applies to:
- a toolbox
- a desktop
- a small information system run by ourselves for our own needs
- a storage area for materials or components
- in fact just about anything where you have more than one item to handle!
We want such a system set up so that:
- we can find things when we want them
- we can find things quickly
- others can find things if we are off sick
- we know we've got the things we need
- we know they are being kept safely
- we can forget about them when we don't want them!
To ensure that a system achieves these aims:
- the items must be put into the system
- the must be stored in an organized way
- there must be a method for finding things again when we want them again
