Centralizing Information
Reduces cognitive load and increases focus
It's your first day at that new job, you have so much to learn, so your new teammates scheduled five calls with you today. They also scheduled four tomorrow, and at least three each day for the next two weeks. You spend the first 15 minutes of these calls getting to know each one of them, but the remaining time you ask them question after question. You need to know the policies, ways of working, and what tools are used for what processes. After spending forty hours on calls and firing up your college-born carpal tunnel, you have pages of notes about all of these questions. Now you can start doing the actual work. Well, once you can get IT on a call to set up the ten to twelve odd tools they never provisioned.
We all know this is the least efficient way to transfer knowledge, yet it continues in some fashion or another in every company we work for. It is not even exclusive to work. We do things for ourselves and our families routinely. We harbor this knowledge of how to do these tasks and rarely, if ever, write them down. Most people make an exception with recipes. For some reason, recipes are culturally acceptable to document.
Today, I am not here to tell you to document your tax process or your month-end billing, though you should. I am here to tell you why and how you can centralize information, so it is accessible. The following thoughts can be applied to a business, but they can also be applied to home life, as that is just as complex.
What is centralizing information?
It is exactly what it sounds like, bringing information into one place. What information, you ask? All of it, contextually. By contextually, I mean by area or project.
Examples of contextual areas are work and life. You should segment this information in some way, even if using the same tools. Better yet, you could use different tools to set a more defined line in the sand.
Segmenting information by project works well too. If that is using a single note to store information about a trip, rather than ten. Or using a consistent file management methodology, so you and your team can find all the resources for a project easily.
How to centralize information
The way I draw this line is that all of my business information lives in Notion and all of my personal information lives in Apple apps. Since all of my devices are used for both, it is key for me to segment this information over tooling.
There is some overlap too. I have a family section in Notion, but this information lives in a separate teamspace. I also store my PKM (Personal Knowledge Management) in Notion, because it is a better tool for this than Apple's offering. This knowledge also leans a little more to the work side than the business side.
For you or your company, you should choose a tool or set of interconnected tools that can handle most of your work or personal life. This could be Notion, Google Workspace, Microsoft Office, ClickUp, or similar. Then, segment each area or project. Put as much information as you can into them: tasks, meeting notes, project specs, files, images, videos, etc. Then rely on that tool or set of tools to store and connect everything.
Why should you centralize?
Increase focus and reduce cognitive load. By using select tools for each area or project, your brain knows what to do and associates types of workflows with them. Additionally, by staying in a certain tool, you do not have to context switch as often, due to being able to stay in one app and link information within it.
Rather than taking notes in Google Docs or Word, then having your tasks in a notebook on your desk; use Notion to relate tasks to meeting notes. This will allow you to see the context while actioning tasks. Additionally, if you do not have to switch apps, devices, or materials, you are less likely to see distractions.
The information that is centralized is different for everyone, every team, and for their needs. In the original example above, that information would have been a wiki, connected to an onboarding guide. Then the employee, manager, and peers would all know how to get the information, track the progress, and share resources efficiently. Better yet, you can keep the carpal tunnel at bay.
Onboarding is not the only reason; there are a myriad of ways centralizing information helps work and personal life.
Marketing teams could have their content calendar right in the same tool as where they draft blog posts.
Managers and direct reports can have a shared one-to-one section, with a transparent way to track performance reviews.
Executive assistants can gather information for the next team getaway, while tracking tasks, sub-projects, and attendees' dietary restrictions.
A couple could plan their vacation's itinerary, blog clippings, and Instagram-worthy photo destinations.
Families can keep their recipes, shopping lists, and meal planning in one place so anyone can grab the next sourdough recipe or add to the grocery list.
Setting up these systems can take some time, but picking a tool and adding all the things to it will yield significant benefits. You can always add to or remove from it, but try to stick with one interconnected system per area or project. Not only will it make the next new hire feel less overwhelmed, but it can also help with your focus, productivity, and work-life balance.