Five Minute Book - Bit Literacy
Posted by Steve Munroe | Under Five Minute Book Thursday May 29, 2008
Update: See the mother of all productivity faceoffs with Bit Literacy vs GTD vs 4HWW here.
This post begins a series of mini book reviews that give you what you need to know about a book in an easily digestible nibble. It can also help you make the decision to go out and buy the full meal at full restaurant prices (ok, enough with the food metaphor!).
For this first post I am going to provide a condensed overview of Bit Literacy by Mark Hurst.
According to the Book, bit literacy is defined as:
..a set of skills for living and working with bits in a healthy and productive way. Much like literacy itself, bit literacy can grant a lifetime of benefits, and it doesn’t require any special software or expensive tools.
Mark Hurts basic proposition is that even though many, if not most, of us work with bits (i.e. with computers), many of us have very poor bit literacy skills. The skills he is talking about relate to managing email, files, todo lists, media diets, creating bits, and naming and storing files.
The meat (more food!) of the book starts at chapter 4, so that’s where i’ll begin.
Chapter 4: Managing Email
There’s too much of the damn stuff. A systematic approach is needed. Read and delete all personal emails first. Delete all spam. Engage with then delete all FYI and action items. Ensure you empty your inbox at least once a day.
Chapter 5: Managing ToDos
Using paper doesn’t scale. Create todos with an appropriate tool (suggested tool is GooToDo). Assign a todo to a specific day - then forget about it. Be automatically reminded about the todo when appropriate.
Chapter 6: The Media Diet
Too much media is like too much fried chicken. Identify a tiny set of key resources that form your staple diet - called ’stars’. Identify a set of ’scans’ - media that you occasionally scan for anything interesting. Indentify a small set of targets - specific and focused resources that relate to your field. Maintain a set of try-outs - a set of media that are candidates for inclusion in the earlier sets.
Chapter 7: Managing Photos
Forget everything else, all you need is a simple two-level store. A folder for a year and inside this, twelve folders, one for each month, with an optional description of the location afterwards. I.e. 01nyc would contain photos of new york city taken in January of whatever year this folder sits (I use this and it works a treat).
Chapter 8: Creating Bits (email)
Front load your content. Most important idea first (the hook), then second most important idea. The third most important idea can probably be dropped. End message as soon as possible. Optional appendix for further information.
Chapter 9: File Formats (text)
Use ASCII. Nuff said.
Chapter 10: Naming Files
Use: initials-date-topic.extension. Canvas files - files that may be continuously edited, for example a contact file. Log files - special type of canvas file that contains dated entries. Keep most recent entry at the top.
Chapter 11: Storing Files
Not too many folders, Not too few. DO NOT STORE FILES ON THE DESKTOP. Two level folder system: Parent folder containing project folders and category folders - NO FILES. Project folders may contain many different types of files. Category folders contain only one type of file. Examples of category folders are ‘expenses’, or ‘regs’, which would contain registration details and passwords for websites relating to the parent project folder.
Conclusion:
Developing bit literacy habits will help you to take control of your information and increase your productivity. Done well, it turns you from an amateur drowning in a sea of bits to an uber cool Bit Meister.
Still hungry? You can find and buy the book on the right in my recommended reading.
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