My shoes at home are all lined up on shelves. My office is pretty tidy and well organised, I like having a clear desk. I do though have lots of possessions and "stuff" stored away in cupboards and drawers which you tend to forget about. There is lots to read about when it comes to keeping everything organised. These go from a miminalistic approach through to the Swedish and their passion with "Dostadning", otherwise known as "Death Cleaning" (read more here Death Cleaning). I actually quite like "Dostadning", it is a good way of de-cluttering.
Besides going through our house (still have the attics to work at) I have also given my workshop a good tidy up. This was in part inspired by wanting to general sort everything out but also prompted by a "YouTuber" who I follow called Wranglestar, a US Modern Homesteader. He is undergoing a major tidying up exercise in his workshop (having done their house) and he takes you through the process. This link here "Workshop Cleanup" shows you the start of the exercise.
Moving on from cutlery drawers and shelves of paint I also give my office a good tidy up and that includes all the equipment I use as part of my work. Without fail I will find something I have lost in my brief case/computer bag which only comes from emptying it out completely. This year is was a small lead I had mislaid many months ago and landed up purchasing a replacement. Next on the list was going through drone equipment and at the same time I give them a good clean and an annual check. Whilst I check and service them regularly it is good practice to give them a really thorough annual check. I use a simple photographers cleaning kit and a some compressed air to make sure all those awkard areas are cleaned. The carry cases are also emptied and cleaned. This year before packing everything away again I did omit the various odds and ends that don't really need to be in the case, they are not essential to the the actual flying of the drone.
Over the year I have worked through "de-cluttering" and having completed the annual drone service I spent a bit of time on running through the various documents I have relating to my CAA Licence the main one being the Operations Manual. With the onset of my fourth year of having a drone my Operations Manual has been through a number of revisions. These have mainly been to update new legislation and regulations as opposed to the details of how the drone is operated. My manual runs to 50 pages and in addition I have a separate aide memoire/check list. I believe that 50 pages is typical for an Operations Manual and there will be those that are much more comprehensive (ie longer) and those which are much shorter.
A longer document will no doubt cover every eventuality but I would be concerned that it becomes too cumbersome and of a size where it has to be referred to on a regular basis. I am also aware of an Ops Manual which is less than 20 pages. Both would have been approved by the CAA. I would like to see examples of both and in particlar the short verision. There is a real skill in being able to write concisely. I did have a book many years ago (it probably went on one of my clearing out sessions) which was about a surgeon who wanted to document how to conduct an operation. His "light bulb" monent came when he learnt about writing aircraft safety check lists. I recall when he spoke to the authors of various aircraft check lists it struck him how important it was to write clear unambiguous instructions.
Having looked through my Operations Manual I also took time to read through some recent planning applications I have submitted during the last year. Some are simple and run to a few pages whiclst others and much more comprehensive. During the course of last year I also had to review a couple of major applications, together with the Environmental Assessment these ran to hundreds of pages. With some technical reports there really can be a lot of what I would call "fluff and filler" which don't add to the issue being addressed. Having reviewed the more complex applications I do think there is further scope to reduce the word count whilst not diminshing the "quality" of the content. I will be working on this during 2019.
