While putting together a presentation on PDMWorkgroup, I came to the realization that my own document management is lacking, and it’s probably time to practice what I preach. My processes are certainly a lot different from users in a production environment. I don’t produce products, and frequently work with other people’s data. I also churn out a lot of junk for illustration purposes. Also, there’s the “If you got hit by a bus” test for your data. Sorry, but as my own boss, I’m not worried about my data if something happened to me. 

However, saying that my files are different isn’t really a good excuse to not adopt a process. I recently heard someone use the colloquialism “The cobblers kids have the worst shoes” to describe the problem and I’m ashamed. I’m ready to come clean, and here is my confession. Today alone:

·         I came across several sets of duplicate files. These are file sets with the same part names in different directories. It’s probably my number 1 sin. Which one is newer? If I go to the “recent files” section, how do I know I’m really getting the one I want? Why are there multiple files? Obviously I wanted to leave one of the file sets in a “different state”. In other words, I wanted to make a “Revision”. Heck, I could even go crazy and leave myself a note explaining WHY I wanted to make a revision. 

·         I opened a 2009 file set and accidentally saved it in 2010. SolidWorks is so good about reminding you to save your work as a default that it can actually be difficult to NOT save your work if you’re not careful. Fortunately I had a copy of the files on a thumb drive, so I was able to get them back, but suddenly I’m violating rule number 1 again. 

·         I repetitively used File - > Open to browse for my documents. I waste a lot of time looking for things because what makes sense in one context suddenly doesn’t work in another. When I started running 2010 in parallel with 2009 I wanted to be sure to keep my files separate, and I made a different folder. Sounded good at the time, but suddenly I had to remember which customer is on which version, and as a customer migrates I would end up with data in both directories. Even worse, it could be duplicate data, once again violating rule number 1. (PDMw can handle data in various SW versions.)

That being said, I am committed assessing my own unique data concerns. I realize it will likely be a somewhat iterative process, but regular process auditing is core to any successful organization, no matter how small.  It is not reasonable to expect a “one size fits all” solution to data issues, and we all have to remember to focus on infrastructure in the lulls between busy times.