Organizing Your Content, Marie Kondo-Style
I’ll confess that several closets in my house are not exactly what you’d call “well organized.” In fact, you could say they are, from time to time, downright messy. As a result, one day when I wanted to wear my favorite blue sweater, I had to go on a virtual safari through the bedroom closet to find it. Eventually I did, but it took a lot of extra time and a lot of unwelcomed effort. I was left with a determination to get my things logically organized, and keep them that way.
For inspiration, and help, I turned to the famous home organizer Marie Kondo. Ms. Kondo, who’s written 4 books on organizing that have sold millions of copies around the world, is a practitioner of her own KonMari organizing method. This approach consists of gathering items together, categorizing and labeling them, discarding the unused and the “un-loved,” and finding a designated, accessible place to store items that doesn’t change and is more or less permanent.
Armed with KonMari, I made significant progress in organizing my closets and I’m doing a pretty good job of keeping them organized. This experience got me thinking about my clients and their massive “closets” filled with unorganized, obsolete, and hard to access content. Surely, they needed organizing help too, and I knew that I could be their Marie Kondo when it came to getting their data houses in order.
The services I offer are essentially equivalent to what Marie Kondo offers to home dwellers. I’m an expert at examining clinical content, recognizing what’s current or obsolete, categorizing and labeling it, getting it componentized and organized, and, finally, finding a logical place to archive it for easy access when needed.
Like Marie, I perform these functions using a logical methodology. First, I open and read through all of the client’s existing documents. I look for patterns in these documents. What content is repeatedly highlighted? What content gets often repeated in their documents? What content constitutes the core of information that they often draw upon? I also review their past content selection, looking for additional patterns and repetitions.
Once I’ve got the lay of the land, I recommend what content should be kept and what can be safely jettisoned. Then I suggest logical ways of organizing the content. In the finishing phase, I label each “content bucket” and give it a name, so that it can be positively identified in unambiguous terms. Now when the client needs their archived content, they know where to find it quickly and easily. AI and computer-driven searches could be also greatly facilitated by this organized data structuring.
The results, as I’ve seen, can be dramatic. It’s like trading in your messy closet crammed full of old clothes you never wear anymore into a neat and organized closet with just the clothes you wear, all neatly boxed, labeled, and organized for easy access. My clients have told me how much better things are for them now that their content is curated, organized, and easily accessible. And any time saved in creating new clinical documents can translate into shorter approval cycles for much needed new drugs and therapies.
Data organizing, like home organizing, is a bit of a science and an art, and it all starts by acknowledging the need and to get organized and stay organized. When your company is facing that challenge, please think of Watchglass Consulting as your professional organizer. We work fast, we work clean, and we leave you wondering how you ever managed without us.
