The Art of Organization

I think a lot about the way in which I listen to music. Ever since I got my first iPod in 2009, I’ve been carrying around the entirety of my music collection in a tiny box in my pocket. And ever since I started doing that, I’ve been thinking about the way in which I listen to music.

I don’t know if it’s the same for you, but whenever I get new music, I end up listening to that new music a lot. And then I’ll start to intersperse the older stuff more and more, and then I’ll find I’ve gone six months without listening to that music. And sometimes I’ll be scrolling through my playlists and realize there are things on there I haven’t listened to in YEARS. It all seemed very erratic and disorganized.

So, I created a spreadsheet.

First, let’s work together and try to figure out why this bothers me. It’s just music, right? I just hate the thought of things not being used to their fullest extent. And music has the ability to create mood and influence inspiration. More than just something to listen to while you work or exercise, music has the ability to be used as a tool to improve the human experience. Right? So then, why am I allowing myself to get stuck in a rut?

One of the things I do as part of my job is create and practice process work. Process work is the act of coming up with a standard method of approaching a problem. If you do it well enough, the entire team can end up approaching problems in a standard way and there will be a sharp increase in productivity. Some would say there would be a sharp drop in imagination and design. Well, then we can discuss changing the processes. See, I’m always suspicious of any process that’s set in stone with no room for improvement. That’s not the best way to approach problems either. If we all did that, the wheel would never have been invented.

After years of experience in watching how process work can really improve a teams approach to tackling problems, I started to wonder if processes could be followed on an individual basis. Then I realized the very question was stupid, as OCD people have been proving the validity of that idea for years.

For instance, my wife can never find her iPhone and half the time has no idea where her iPad is. I know where my iPhone, iPad and iPod are at all times. Because I follow a process. I might not have a chart to outline it, but it’s there.

So I implemented a process for tracking the way in which I listen to music. It’s based in a spreadsheet, of course. I have a list of the playlists on my iPod, and a column containing the date when the playlist was last listened to. Any Playlists that I’ve been meaning to listen to get the date field highlighted in yellow, so I can scroll through and remember them immediately when I’m unsure of what I’m going to listen to that day.



Many people don’t use playlists like I do. They let their iPod organize things by artist or album or genre. That’s fine. The playlist method allows me a greater degree of control. (It’s all about control.) I’ve assigned different numbers to certain eras of music, so I can scroll through them with ease. 03 being Orchestral movie soundtracks. 06 being music from the 1960’s. 07 being music from the 1970’s and 07-Disco being very special to my heart. (Natch) 17 is Holiday music and 19 is songs and stories from super hero cartoons and old children’s records. You heard me.

There are 21 categories in all, not counting the genius playlists.

Some will say that organization tampers with the freedom and beauty of music as an art form. Poppycock! Music is all about structure, design, organization, timing, and precision. It took me awhile to see it that way, but music is mathematics at it’s most beautiful.

This system took awhile to set up, considering how much music I have. But maintenance is easy, as long as you follow the process. Part of the process is not letting Lorie and the kids anywhere near my iTunes.

This method of music handling offers some data to me that I can use as insight to my music enjoyment. I can tell what genre’s easily please me or if certain artists or composers are particularly strong with me. Right now, the Beatles are in a powerful lead.


One thing I don’t do is tally how many times a playlist has been listened to. I mean… I don’t want to get obsessive about it or anything.

I mean… iTunes already keeps a tally of how many times a particular song has been played.

Just… just not on the playlist level. iTunes can’t tell you how many times a playlist has been listened to.

I mean, there’s really no need.

Thanks,
DCD

P.S. I just added a ‘tally’ column to my spreadsheet.

P.S.S. If I kept a history of dates, rather than just the date last played, I could detect patterns over the year! Do I listen to orchestral movie soundtracks more in the Spring and the Beatles in the Summer! Things like that. Hmmmmmm..