Are your project documents scattered across platforms? Is your inbox overflowing?
Ever felt overwhelmed by this mess?
Managing digital communication can feel like taming chaos.
In this post, I share how disorganization affects communications, document accessibility, and time efficiency. I also share my strategies for organizing a project’s digital space.
The Effects of Disorganization
The most valuable tips or tricks that I can provide for Project Management are related to Communications. Projects can, and indeed have failed due to mismanaged communications.
From my vantage point, modern communication is a double-edged sword; a curse and a blessing. Specifically when it comes to not only communicating but also organizing communications.
How do I keep projects organized? In the past, organizations used to file everything in a library style. Specific nomenclature had to be followed because communications and repositories were centralized. It was easy for one department to follow the procedure, and to demand users to follow the nomenclature for filing.
That’s long gone. Today, we are digital and global. We have to adapt to this new kind of intangible space, where everything floats across multiple servers, SharePoint, clouds, and personal folders.
When planning a project, keeping the documents organized from the start is critical to avoid miscommunications.
I created a method to keep my documents organized there, a method I call a Digital Closet, because there is nothing that comes more to mind to people that the visual of a well-organized closet and a messy one.
Whether we work in a cloud or on a server, we all experience these intangible spaces where our digital documents live, and as you may have already experienced, they can quickly turn into messy closets if not structured well.
Everyone files (if/when they do) as they see fit and as it serves their purpose. However, project documentation and written communications that need to be shared with team members should be neatly organized for effortless access.
I have worked with all sorts of personalities, and of course, each of us has a unique style of doing things. A server with folders created by team members without a structure ends up being like a big messy closet. But instead of boxes, bags, clothes, and shoes thrown everywhere, they are emails, letters, memos, and presentations: all forms of documentation used to communicate things. To communicate plans, requirements, status, technical reports. You name it.
If you have ever been in front of a disorganized closet where you can’t find that yellow shirt, that’s exactly what happens in the digital closet. When you try to find that letter that Tracey sent to Jordan with an urgent request about the negotiation rules of engagement that you are responsible for. Where is that letter?
But just because we are in a new era of digital communications with emails floating in our individual platforms, and library nomenclature style being non-existent, we still need to organize and manage what would be a certain chaotic situation if we don’t.
Strategies to Keep Projects Organized
Create the space
Though true that each project has its own characteristics, I keep all my projects organized by following the traditional four phases of a project and create a folder for each: Planning, Execution, Monitoring & Control, and Closing.
- Planning will hold all documents and communications that relate to the planning of the project. Charter, Baseline, and any individual plans are created for the project (Comms, Risk, Procurement, etc.).
- Execution will hold all that pertains to the ongoing tasks and activities to achieve deliverables.
- Monitoring & Control holds the metrics and status presentations for project partners.
- Closing holds the interim and final deliverables and project summary, plus the lessons learned captured from the very start of the project (bonus: don’t wait till the end: people may have left the project, and things get forgotten.)
I divide each of those folders according to what is most convenient for the team and project—sometimes using administrative and technical folders, or organizing around the 10 areas of knowledge (AoK) in Project Management (I rely on this AoK structure in particular within the Execution folder). Ultimately it depends on what works best for you and your team, and the project.
The breakdown of digital closet folders and sub-folders depends on the types of documents that communicate all aspects of the project, with more sub-folders created to accommodate greater variety and complexity.
Communicate the purpose
But, those folders and sub-folders alone won’t do the trick, though. It sounds obvious, but even with a structure, if the team doesn’t know how to navigate the closet, chaos will knock on the door on day one, especially with large teams.
The teams must know the path to every document. How everything has been organized and what should go where must be communicated by the Project Manager, so precious time is not wasted looking for Tracey’s letter.
For long projects, doing periodic refreshes with the team is a must: new team members have probably joined and others have probably forgotten.
Welcome the changes
And of course, there’s always learning along the way. Sometimes new ideas or approaches emerge that can improve the system. That’s why tailoring and flexibility remain key for every project.
Ultimately, through consistent application and incremental improvements, this approach becomes a repeatable process that supports efficiency project after project.
Remember that messy digital “closet” we started with? It doesn’t have to stay messy. By applying intentional strategies, such as centralized storage, smarter inbox habits, and consistent labeling, you transform overwhelm into order. The difference isn’t just tidier files; it’s more time, clearer communication, and less digital noise.
Efficiency is the gift for organizing all communications required by teams. And the efficiency is not achieved just for that particular project; future projects will benefit as well.
That’s how I have found the best way to keep my projects organized, by creating repeatable structures that reduce chaos and confusion. This is not, of course, the only way to organize your project documentation. It is A way.
My recommendation is not that you follow this specific method, but that you create a foundation and a method that works for yourself and for your teams, and that can be applied to most projects. This way you will have already developed a critical step for future projects to reduce chaos, confusion, and inefficiencies.
It pays off.