How do you keep track of all this information

[Triassic]

My brain is just not big enough, being retired I loose track of the days!

 

So how do you keep track of all the important bits of information gleaned from this forum, web site, manufacturers, suppliers etc etc?

[Russell griffiths]

I have bought a new I pad just for the house build I save all websites I like to the home screen, I also keep any pics in my photo album, 

i have also got a website called houzz where you can set up folders with all your ideas in, say windows you can keep hundreds of pics of windows in it,when you click on the pic it tells you the manufacturer and other relevant stuff. 

 

I am a complete Luddite and wouldn't know how to set up a spreadsheet at all so I find this very helpfull. 

 

[ToughButterCup]

Now there's a question. 

I think the answer is complex, idiosyncratic and depends what you want to track. I have met many female teachers who seem to have sponge-like memory for the finest detail about many things: getting used to carrying huge amounts of information about 30 or more young people is a mind-stretching thing. I think of a build as about 30  or so tracks of important information, of which 5 are really important at that time and a good 10 or more need close attention

 

I find it fun to try and systematise information streams as far as possible.

 

Why keep a Site Diary when you run a site CCTV or time lapse camera? Its easy to work out a day rate wages bill if you scan the time lapse; it's also easy to tell exactly what time the [xyz] was delivered.

 

Lists of lists with reminders are essential. Google Keep works for me (it won't for many)

 

Every expenditure heading on the master Spreadsheet has its equivalent linked File Notes file and Google Keep note (because I can write content to it by dictation from my phone if necessary)

 

Copies of essential reference documentation are stuck to the wall in the kitchen on magnetic clips. A white board is full of (to anyone else) incomprehensible scribble and phone numbers. I keep a current notes board on the site noticeboard outside. I wish I could find a china graph pen. So notes don't smudge so much in rain. (must sort that)

 

Almost all of this stuff Debbie keeps in her head. She doesn't need those props. I do. It is so damn annoying.

[Triassic]

I've come to the realisation that I'm disorganised, my workshop is a tip, the garden tool shed a mess, my filing a mess and my management of information poor. Hence it's making doing stuff so much harder.

 

The one thing I could do with is a reference section, that covers each aspect of the house build, organised from the ground up.

 

The days aren't long enough!

 

I tend to be a bit of a loan wolf, I want to do everything myself and I'm realising I need to relax and get some help !

[Ferdinand]

If you keep it all in the computer then you cannot see that it is disorganised, so it helps you feel better .

 

Edited August 13, 2017 by Ferdinand

[Triassic]

I've recently changes computers and the search on this one is poor, consequently I'm find it difficult to find things!  This one only searches document titles and not content.

 

Ive recently started a document that acts as my reference list, it contains links to web pages, snippets of information etc. Hopefully this should help.

 

Ian's @recoveringacademic checklists are also a help, Didn't someone start a post listing various training videos?

Edited August 13, 2017 by Triassic

[Gone West]

On the internet I have a large folder and sub folders containing all the bookmarks of everything I come across that is of interest to the build. On my computer I also have a folder and subfolders containing all the PDFs and other documents relating to the build. My memory is terrible so I use the computer to help.

[ToughButterCup]

Yes, here they are. I'm working my way through every single John Ward video to check that his stuff contains no advertising. I'll lionk to them by Friday of this week, I expect.

 

I forgot to add that I have a £180 worth of pure joy: a Box account (doesn't need to be Box, any of the others will do) in which I put all live information.

 

I do that because I need to share loads of stuff with people. I give everyone who needs it editing rights. Then all they need is the relevant link. This puts an instant stop to massive email trails with dizzying numbers of files attached and therefore a huge versioning problem. On our build the ONLY place the latest version is kept is (for security) on my hard disk and the live version is online. The online folder structure mirrors exactly what's on my hard disk.

 

There was some resistance to this way of working from some companies ("That's not how we do it..."), but after a bit of support and hand-holding from me they found  that they could do it (Amazin' innit?). I sometimes had to put their resources in the folder myself and then talk through how to do that on the phone with the rep who found the process a bit challenging.

I blame the teachers.(Again)

 

Rain tomorrow. Hard at it today, then.

Ian

[Jeremy Harris]

I've done much the same as @PeterStarck, but have to say that you do end up with a lot of data.  My "House information" folder has around 30 sub-folders and is currently sitting at around 26GB.  What I have found is that it doesn't take long to recall where stuff is using this system.  I have sub-folders with names like "heating", "ventilation", "planning permission", "building control", "plumbing" etc, and that seems to make finding things reasonably quick.

 

I dealt with the need for portability by having three 64GB USB sticks, which are synchronised with the main folder every night.  That way I could be reasonably sure that I'd have the information I needed with me, or plugged into a laptop or tablet on site.  My biggest problem was not having an internet connection on site.  With no mobile signal I had to rely on having a local copy of any information I needed.

Edited August 13, 2017 by JSHarris
typo

[Triassic]

I've never been into the folder and sub folder thing, I have one large folder called The New Build, this holds all the information, I also have a mail folder with the same name. I then used a search utility to find everything with, for example, the word 'foundation' in eather the title or within the document. Having changed computer I need to find a new search utility, as the current one is c&rap.

 

I'd never thought of using bookmarks, I've been hot linking to information from within a Word document.

 

 

Edited August 13, 2017 by Triassic
Typo

[Barney12]

50 minutes ago, recoveringacademic said:

 

 

I forgot to add that I have a £180 worth of pure joy: a Box account (doesn't need to be Box, any of the others will do) in which I put all live information.

 

 

I do something similar with Microsofts OneDrive but have never gone to the trouble of getting suppliers to work from it. Instead I just manage the process of ensuring the latest version is stored (including an archive of previous revisions). The benefit for me is the 'access anywhere' from phone, iPad, laptop etc. 

 

As importantly all my iphone pictures automatically upload to OneDrive. Taking loads of pictures of various stages of the build is a must for me. Where was that pipe, stud etc. What was the detail of that wiring? Pictures paint a thousand words. 

[ToughButterCup]

6 minutes ago, Triassic said:

[...] I've been hot linking to information from within a Word Documenment.

 

That's good standard practice. In effect, you create an index.

 

Next problem: what you call (say) 'foundations' should contain the contact details of your builder....? 

Answer: get into 'Tags' or 'Key Words' (meta data)

 

Ian

[Jeremy Harris]

You can also use hyperlinks within a master document index as a way of finding things.  I started doing this, but found it too tedious to maintain.  The idea was to have an index, created as an ordinary document (I used Libre Office Writer, but Word or anything else should be able to do the same).  This index had hyperlinks that led either to files stored locally, or to websites.  It works well, and is easy to search, but maintaining it got to be a real pain, and I ended up just relying on memory as to where things were located.

 

What I did find was that bookmarking websites wasn't always reliable.  Manufacturers and suppliers, in particular, seem to regularly update their websites, sometimes making older bookmarks fail.

[Triassic]

My wife says I should ask for help more! So thanks for the help. I'm sat here filing things under their correct place in the build, starting with planning......

 

i like the the idea of using the cloud to share things, I have a phone, an iPad and a PC and currently never shall the Twain shall meet.

Edited August 13, 2017 by Triassic

[PeterW]

I use Google Drive to keep everything together. The build has a #latest folder at the top that has the latest plans, cost books etc so you know it's the reference version. 

 

I only use the google product as I can add to it from the phone and also keep offline versions of documents - I currently have the MVHR unit as an offline copy so I can refer to it for example. 

 

Drive allows you to share links too - I have a  folder that I move things to if needed but I generally keep it pretty organised. 

 

SWMBO on the other hand prefers a cellulose based approach, supplemented by post it flags of varying colours ...... 

 

 

[PeterW]

11 minutes ago, Triassic said:

 

i like the the idea of using the cloud to share things, I have a phone, an iPad and a PC and currently never shall the Twain shall meet.

 

Just to add the only one that I have found to work reliably across all the platforms is Google Drive. One Drive didn't like android, and Dropbox sharing didn't fill me with confidence as I managed to delete someone else's documents once ... 

[Fallingditch]

2 hours ago, PeterW said:

Just to add the only one that I have found to work reliably across all the platforms is Google Drive. 

 

+1. Big fan.

 

Three more things:

• you can configure Google Drive to 'replicate' locally. Any changes you make to a local file will then 'replicate' across all devices (and if they are configured for local storage, it will be saved there too. (Google Drive isn't the only Application which does this - its just as PeterW says, its reliable across platforms.
• Windows 10's search capability on a local drive is much improved. Its very fast indeed. So all my build Word docs, PDFs, Excel spreadsheets are held in my local Google Drive, and I can search across the whole lot
• in Excel 2013 and 2016 they introduced 'Tables'. Tables allow you to sort and filter quickly and easily. Where other people might keep 'lists' - I keep tables. They help me all the time to arrange things: into high/low (example: dates); filter by category (example: 'sanitaryware'); calculate totals for a partcualr category (example 'VAT on sanitaryware')

Negatives:

I still haven't come up with method I am happy with to manage URLs/Bookmarks/Favourites/Hyperlinks. Like @JSHarris, I found it 'found it too tedious to maintain' ...

[MikeSharp01]

In my world the contemporaneous note book is the bible, all the computer stuff is just that, stuff. The temporal, thought and associated decision based knowledge is all in the note book and hard coded along the time line by the dry ink on the pages. The idea being that you can follow your thinking and track the points at which decisions were made if there was ever a problem the note books got called in! EG on the 24th of October 2015 we agreed the budget for the  kitchen and that is the figure in the spreadsheet. All in hard bound, I have created a large pallet load of them across my professional life. Still using it on the build but have augmented it with small moleskine notebooks I can have in my pocket around the site. All the non critical tracking is on the CAD systen including links to products, PDFs from engineers and architects, letters etc. The spreadsheet for costs, links to quote documents and invoices etc - All in a one drive folder so I can access it from anywhere, pintrest for images is about it although I gave a folder set in Gmail for the build where I link all the emails up.

[SteamyTea]

Have a look at academic referencing systems, then combine it with https://www.mendeley.com/

Then you can keep notes, pictures, documents, scans delivery notes etc in one place that is easily accessible wherever you happen to be.

 

There is a reason that universities use them.

I use a modified Harvard system as it gives the name of the author and the date it was published.

So say you scan a delivery note in, name would be the supplier and date would be when delivered.

Easy to print out a list too.

 

Now mentioning lists, these work for me, other prefer pictures (thought bubbles).

All I can say is get used to lists, the act of writing it down is a good aid to memory in itself.

Edited August 14, 2017 by SteamyTea

[gravelld]

Trello for the project.

 

Google Keep for odd bits of notes and things to follow up on.

[Ferdinand]

Mind maps are useful for evolving visualisation.

 

Not wanting to be morbid, however I hope that people with large volumes of files have a deletion strategy and instructions for their dearly beloved to dispose of the things that do not need to be kept or examined when the Grim Reaper finally comes to call. And something could be in place now since the grim reaper can come suddenly.

 

When my father died we had literally rooms of files to peruse from a 40 year architectural practice. Unfortunately the house and garden was like a mini Calle Abbey .. big enough never to require a clear out, and it took literally months to examine everything just in case.

 

Ferdinand

Edited August 14, 2017 by Ferdinand

[Ferdinand]

Online cards can be useful .. e.g. If you have a Curve card transactions can be tagged in the app and lists downloaded separately. Very useful.

 

In addition since it is a debit card which immediately charges transactions to any of a number of cards you add to the app, you can charge debit card purchases to a credit card for reward points / cash back or to manage the time delay or even to feed debit card purchases through to a balance transfer card, while also effectively using a credit card where they are not accepted.

 

Up to a limit cash from cash machines also earns whatever rewards your cc offers.

 

F

Edited August 14, 2017 by Ferdinand

[AliMcLeod]

I'm earlier in the build process than others, but I too have a folder system on my computer that works for me.

 

At the top level, i have folders such as high level items such as Planning, Quotes, Site, Legal, Finances

 

Then under those I'll have it split further. So, under Quotes I'll have folders called Windows, Flooring etc, then in those I'll have a folder for each quote. I also date mark the folders in the format YYYY-MM-DD Quote Name, so that I can then sort the folders by date.

 

To track finances, i have a spreadsheet with multiple tabs that cross reference the folders/files.

 

This folder structure on my computer is stored inside my Dropbox folder. This automatically syncs all the files across all my devices so I can access them (and edit them, where an app is available) on my iPad, smart phone and work computer.

 

I find this workflow really works, and the ability to share across the devices saves time and, more importantly, the risk of forgetting something or losing information. With the Dropbox app, you can also store things offline so they are on the device even if you don't have internet access. It will sync to the latest once connected.

 

You can also create folders to share with individuals. So, for example, you can create a folder and share it with your architect, or with one of your subcontractors.

 

I'll add my link to Dropbox here - if anyone signs up via this, you'll get an additional 500mb over the standard 2GB space and I'll also get an additional 500Mb of storage. Admins, please let me know/remove the link if this is frowned upon.

 

https://db.tt/K1Y7zsz3

 

2.5GB is not a huge amount of space, so you might need to pick and choose what you sync.

 

Edited August 15, 2017 by AliMcLeod