Week 3 | Organization in the Virtual World

Working within a virtual space, as I have learned, requires a different sort of organization than when working collaboratively in a physical space. One thing that has been extremely helpful throughout this internship, is taking notes every time that I meet with my supervisor. I keep track of what I need to do, any feedback on what I have completed, and anything else pertinent to my tasks or worth keeping in mind moving forward. As I complete items/ revise previous work, I strikethrough my notes; it is a simple way of staying on top of things, but it is something I have not tried before and found valuable during this experience. With everything being virtual, I have found that accessibility is one of the factors to most take into account. In order to make sure other team members have access to the same materials, I ensure that I upload anything I create (whether graphics, templates, useful links, etc.) to our shared Google Drive. Likewise, when sharing items, I ensure that everyone who needs to, has the appropriate permissions; in other words, if someone needs to be able to edit a document then I need to make sure they have access to do so. Similarly, if I do not have access to something that I need in order to complete my tasks, then I have to reach out to my supervisor promptly to get said access. So, communication is another important part of being organized. If my supervisor knows what I am currently working on, she can plan accordingly for the future. Also, since she knows where materials are stored, she is able to check on my progress simply by opening up the shared documents. Communication and organization go hand in hand as some of the most important features of interning virtually; since there is 8 hours between our time zones, meaning that it is often the next day for one of us when the other is still working, these are of upmost importance. Honing these features will be very helpful in my future as I consider freelance writing which would require a more virtual-based communication between myself and clients (depending on the case). Furthermore, I believe that these skills easily translate to an in-person setting which can easily become disorganized if physical copies of materials are needed. So, building these skills now will be beneficial for future opportunities, regardless of if it is virtually based.