Jean Balent gave a quick 20-minute presentation of her ideas that may help programmers become more organized and therefore more productive. The presentation is a shortened version of her paper, How to become an organized SAS programmer.

In fact, her tips may be useful in other areas of your career. For instance, at annual review time, do you forget projects you've worked on or key accomplishments for the year? For those situations, check out the section of Balent’s paper that includes instructions for adding Notes and Accomplishments to Microsoft Outlook.

5 tips to start with:

• Use a standard directory structure.
• Number your programs.
• Use simple program names.
• Copy e-mail requests into the header blocks.
• Document, document, document.

Balent says that the most important reason for a programmer to become more organized is so that you won’t be so stressed out.

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