Filing Away

One big way I've been Reducing Friction is automating or eliminating all the virtual "filing" I've had to do over the years. Here are a few areas I've been able to cut down:

I've collapsed my formerly separate iCal calendars -- Home, Office, Fitness, Web, etc. -- into a single manual calendar, which sits alongside the automated US Holidays, Birthdays (via the Mac Address Book), and Los Angeles Dodgers schedule. Trying to figure out both where new items go and, even more importantly, which calendar I put something on are both friction producers, distractions.

I now have only two custom folders in Mail -- Archive and Automated. The former is where everything I want to save goes, and the latter is filled using Rules, which automatically file all the reports from my software scripts/bots on various servers. And with only one Archive folder, I can use the handy shortcut Command-Option-T on an email message to move it to the archive. Makes processing things way easier. Makes keeping the old Inbox clean way easier.

I am able to do this by randomly accessing my apps and files with a combination of Tiger Spotlight and Quicksilver. This is what you call your Good Thing. :)

Down with the hierarchy! Down with filing bookmarks and email! Filing is so 19th Century; the computer is good at finding stuff -- let it!

The Browser War

Firefox -- and browsers in general -- are a bit of a special case when it comes to the filing issue. Do we really need that many permanent bookmarks when we have search engines and our own browsing histories? Keep the ones you absolutely need to have and stop bookmarking everything else. Or, if you do need to, slash and burn them at the earliest opportunity.

While we're in Firefox, let's get rid of some clutter.

Remove the Google search field (using Customize). Then head into Manage Bookmarks and look for the Quick Searches folder. Change Quick Search "google" to "g." Then use the Location field for Google searches: "g reducing friction". (Or create a "y foobar" search for yahoo, or whatever you want.) By the way, if you don't mind having the very first google hit be where you're going, leaving out the "google" or "g" and just putting in keywords is the equivalent of the 'I'm Feeling Lucky' button on Google.

Without so many Bookmarks, you could get rid of the Bookmarks toolbar, too. But even if you keep all those around, is it really any faster to find your mouse and click on the tiny folder icons, versus the larger Bookmarks target at the top of the screen? Move whatever folders you had on the Bookmarks bar to the top of your Bookmarks list -- they'll now be at the top of the menu and quickly accessible.