Personal Information Management: Tools and Techniques for Achieving Professional Effectiveness

In this handbook, written for the office of the twenty-first century, Barbara Etzel and Peter J. Thomas provide guidance for those struggling to manage the growing volume of mail, memos, e-mail messages, and electronic documents that arrive daily. Personal Information Management details the skills professionals need to process this information, save time, and work more effectively. Etzel and Thomas present common organizational difficulties and concrete techniques for overcoming them. They guide the reader through a variety of computer software and hardware products, paper-based information products, and personal time-management techniques, helping the reader to develop an individually tailored "Personal Information Management Strategy." Technologies covered include accounting and business software, word processors, databases, personal organizers, e-mail programs, tracking and storing packages, personal digital assistants, CD-ROMs, computer backup devices, scanning devices, voice mail, cellular phones, pagers, and fax machines, to name only a few.