Create a purge day

Daniele Catalanotto
Oct 5, 2022


A Service Design Principle to refocus on what’s important

In Switzerland, especially in the German-speaking part, it's tradition to take some time during the spring for a spring cleaning session. It's a moment where you review your possessions, free yourself of what you don't need anymore and clean all those things that you wished you had the time to clean during the whole year but never did.

In the book Getting Things Done, the author mentions a similar idea for a business setting. Have a purge day at least once a year in every company where everybody cleans his digital and physical files.

Having a purge day is a good time to review projects and what is really important and what isn't. A lot of the time, we get lost in work. A purge day can be a perfect pause moment to refocus our attention on what matters, clear our heads, and regain motivation and clarity. So let me ask you:

When will you plan your first purge day at work? Who would you need to convince to make this a routine for your whole team?

Daniele's personal notes
  • This is the second draft of this Service Design Principle.
  • The length of this principle has been reduced by XX% compared to the first draft.
  • Once adapted even more, this principle could be part of the book "Service Design Principles 201-300"
  • As always, feel free to share comments, feedback or personal stories to improve this principle.
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Daniele Catalanotto
Oct 31, 2022

The third draft of this Service Design Principle

In the German-speaking region of Switzerland, we have a spring cleaning tradition. It’s a moment where you clean your whole house and free yourself of the things you don’t need anymore.

In the book Getting Things Done, the author mentions a similar idea for a business setting. Have a purge day at least once a year where everybody cleans his digital and physical files. It’s a perfect time to review projects and can be a pause to refocus our attention on what matters.

So let me ask.

When will you plan your first purge day at work? Who do you need to onboard to make this a routine for your team?

Footnotes
(1) David Allen (2001). Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. Penguin Books. Available at https://extra.swissinnovation.academy/6xTS accessed 19 October 2022.

Daniele’s notes
  • This is the third draft of this principle.
  • I’ve reduced the length of this principle by 37 % compared to the previous draft.