Time to Clean the Garage

As I was working on a presentation for a facilitated discussion around the destruction of records I gave the analogy of my garage. The garage is filled with tools, camping gear, Costco paper products, and boxes from when we moved in 5 years ago. We know we need to clean and organize it. Not just the tools we use regularly, but the whole thing. And yet, we don't. We find other things to do on the weekend. We decide it's too hot/too cold. We work really hard at finding reasons to not devote the time and attention to it that it deserves. It will take a weekend. It will be dirty. It will not be fun. But the return on the investment of time is that the garage will be organized. We will only have what we need. We will be ready if we decide to move. We will have more space. Alas, we just talk about needing to do it. Records Management has a garage-legacy paper and electronic documents. These items need to be destroyed, yet we let them pile up. They clog file cabinets and file shares. They are time wasters. We spend time looking for the right document. We make copies "to save time in the future". Like cleaning the garage, no one wants to do it. But if we are to be responsible adults, we should.

#destruction #recordsmanagement #informationgovernance #informationmanagement #administration