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Am I the only one who feels overwhelmed when it comes to project organization? Not everyone is good at organizing their work. In fact, it can be downright scary. Trying to manage and organize months, or even years of work, can be overwhelming.  And if there's not a consistent structure, it can be almost impossible to find what you need.

The Email on Acid platform includes specific tools for email team management that can help, but you also need to have a plan!

Where to begin?

Regardless if you're starting from scratch—or trying to organize many existing projects—setting some ground rules of consistency, hierarchy, and parallels to your workflow can give you clear direction. It's a great place to start. Also, finding a process and system that make sense for the whole team can make a world of difference. If everyone is on board, then confusing and rogue structures get mitigated.

Here are some other simple, yet helpful tips to live by when it comes to organizing projects and people:

• File as you go!
• Clear out old files that are unneeded, or create an archive folder and maintain.
• Use subfolders, but not too many! A deeply-layered folder structure makes it difficult to find anything. Wherever possible use descriptive file names instead.
• Create a folder template. Not having team members "decide" how to organize their work allows others cleaner access, so everyone can work together easier.
• Try mapping it out on paper before you dive in.
• Consider mimicking your ESP or other internal folder structure to keep it consistent.
• Make user's inactive when they have left your company or change departments–manage access often.

And here are some suggestions for categorizing your projects:

• Permissions—admins need to make sure not only that the proper users see the right folders, but that they make sense within the hierarchy of the organization and within the larger folder's structure. 
• By date—consider some more top-level folders being organized by date for easy reference. 
• By client or department—create separate folders named for each client or department.

Acid Tip: Make projects easy to find. The organization should be clean and clear. Try to avoid cryptic acronyms or abstract naming conventions. Consider who is using your file structure, maybe it's a new employee who hasn't yet learned all the ins and outs of your company. Example: 2020-5_Accessibility_Webinar_marketing_en_

What about when it comes to organizing a team?

Not dissimilar to folder organization, and equally important, is managing a team structure. When adding people, or organizing an existing team, you can organize by client, job position, visibility permissions and custom profile groupings. Consider the size of your company...if you are a very large company who has to consider privacy with clients and employees, your company structure may look very different than if you are a small ad agency.

Here are some examples to show you what I mean:

Step 1: Create Profiles

For this international company, the admin chose to create the four profiles below, separating users by both role and country.

Step 2: Add Users and Assign a User Visibility Permissions

The admin then added each of the following users:

Step 3: Folder Output

And provided them access to the appropriate folders. In their folder structure, you can see they have a high-level organizational structure based on Countries, followed by the year, then project category. Here are the same steps, as followed by an Ad agency. Note the difference in how their roles and folders are structured.

Step 1: Create Profiles

Step 2: Add Users and ASsign a User Visibility Permissions

Step 3: Folder Output

Folder structure:

Final Thoughts

Moving into a new space, or trying to declutter what you already have, can be less painful with a little pre-planning. There are many ways to look at organizing teams and folders. A great suggestion is to create template structures that act as a guide for everyone to follow and replicate. It should mimic the way you work and make sense for your team. Most importantly team management should be as painless as possible. Start getting your work and team organized with Team Management in Email on Acid today!

Keep your emails—and your team—running smoothly.

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