Throwback Thursday: What is your special Spring cleaning tip? #TBT

[#1]

It's Thursday!

That time of the year again, which happens to be my favorite! Spring and cleaning go together like Confluence and Jira :) Here is a guide to get you going. And @Darryl Lee wrote a great article on how to employ CLI in (spring) cleaning as well as his experience of tidying up one instance.

So, what is your special Spring cleaning tip for us?

Let’s make it a great Thursday!

KGM

[John_Halsey]

Ifyou have not used it in the last year get rid of it donate rit or trash it.

[Dan Breyen]

Don't forget to dust the baseboards! :)

[Juanita Williams]

Re-organize your piles of unread books into tidier piles. 

Choose one book.  Spend the rest of the day reading. 

If you finish the book, you have decreased the pile of unread books. 

Pat yourself on the back.  You rock at Spring cleaning!!

[Kristin Lyons]

Usually when I change clothes for the season - I'll make sure I wear every piece of clothing I have and whatever doesn't fit anymore or isn't comfortable, I'll donate. 

[Craig Nodwell]

Dogs, I have dogs.  I live in Canada.  Spring clean up is necessary.

[Amanda Barber]

Love these ideas! It's been hard to get into spring mode with the extra snow we've been getting in Wisconsin. I'll agree with @Craig Nodwell , that we'll be doing some spring cleanup outside after a long, snowy winter. 🐕 

Loving your idea, @Juanita Williams - I'll definitely give this one a go this year! My TBR pile has grown a bit recently...better schedule a day to read!

I also try to do what @Kristin Lyons mentioned. It's a bit tricky to do too early in the spring since the weather fluctuates a LOT, so I tend to do this one once we've reach summer (or winter) and do a quick clean up as I transition my dresser over the correct season's clothes!

My favorite thing to do when spring arrives is to do a good vacuuming and/or steam cleaning of our carpeted areas with the windows wide open to rid the house of all the winter dust, haha!

[Dave Mathijs]

Get rid of 1 item each day, every day ...

[Summer Hogan]

My idea of spring cleaning is going through and if it has not been used/wore in a year then give it to Goodwill or another charity or throw it away as John_Halsey says!  Then I hire a house cleaner! Actually, I admit that I am spoiled and I have a house cleaner come every 3 weeks so my house never gets dirty to the point it needs spring cleaning.

The spring cleaning I typically have to do is digitally. I need to go through my emails and archive or delete old ones and clean up my old text messages and voicemails. 

[Brant Schroeder]

Tackle one room at a time,clean and declutter. Toss out items that you are not using or have a garage sale.

[Nikki Zavadska _Appfire_]

That feeling of well organized backlog ✨

Here are a few tips:

- Use epics to group your stories for easier filtering

- Fix versions/Sprints for future planning

- Creating custom issue type "Tech Debt" can help you prioritize more technical tasks into the Sprint

- Using Blocked/Flagged tag when you need to action something on the ticket before moving to open so you don't forget about it.

[Paul Wiggers]

Declutter your house. Less stuff is less to clean and less to worry about. This means more time for things that matter like your health and family.

[Amanda Barber]

@Summer Hogan - hiring a cleaning person has been pretty life changing! I'm so glad we finally budgeted for one. It keeps clutter at bay since we try to declutter before she comes. With 2 kiddos (who each have lots of messy interests, ha!), I'm so glad to be able to focus on them and a bit of time organizing/tidying rather than the more "deep" cleaning we used to have to do every weekend! I love the idea of having a deep clean twice a year or something, although with regular cleaning it doesn't feel like it's necessary!

[Benjamin]

That's usually the time to do house maintenance. Clean drains, filters, windows, and deep cleaning the kitchen.  

Kind of enjoy it. Feels a bit therapeutic.

[Kristján Geir Mathiesen]

Thank you all for sharing your tips and tricks for spring cleaning! Yes, I also find gratification and some therapy in cleaning, @Benjamin  And I do like reducing "stuff" like you mention @Summer Hogan 

[Kristján Geir Mathiesen]

Oh and if there is too much clutter, yes I sometime totally feel like your comment @Dave Mathijs 

[Ram Kumar Aravindakshan _Adaptavist_]

I'd say if something doesn't seem to be used for over a year, either keep it in storage (never know when you may need it) or give it away if possible.

[Amanda Barber]

I was reminded of this article with some fantastic tidbits! One of my favorites:

Don’t treat your home like a storage unit.

Keeping something because you might need it someday is like paying mortgage to a storage company—and it comes at the expense of living in an empty, breathable space. So think twice about hanging on to the curtain rods or the six old cell phones.

[Marjorie]

Because I am moving into a new house... I have 25 years of stuff to go through. I recommend going through closets at least once a year. Get rid of things you have not touched in a year.

[Fabio Racobaldo _Catworkx_]

There is an interesting course https://university.atlassian.com/student/page/1105866-jira-governance-housekeeping about that!

[Walter Buggenhout]

Rather than doing spring cleaning, get outside and enjoy the colour and smell of fresh flowers, feel the first rays of the spring sun on your skin and be happy that winter is over! 😎

Apart from that, I do recommend adding a touch of autumn cleaning as well. If you clean up more regularly, the effort becomes a lot smaller every time.

All nonsense left aside, I tend to frequently use the Recently Created Chart gadget on Jira dashboards. It is a great way to discover issues that have been created a long time ago and are still unresolved. One click is all it takes to review a list of old stuff from a given month and determine if it is still needed:

[Markku Miettunen]

Ask Yourself If It Sparks Joy - from Konmari :)

[Pip Bennington]

If you haven't used it in the last 12 months, do you need to keep it?  Make a couple of piles and work through them.

Then assess your criteria for keeping something.

Move that to your work life: what is your criteria for accepting something onto your backlog?
Make it specific and explicit, and share it.

[Chris Iacovelli]

Once you do spring cleaning, it is not a goal to re-fill all the empty spots you have sold, given away, donated, etc..

Less is more in so many ways.

[Chris Iacovelli]

Don't wait for spring, clean as you go.

In spring, it makes an for an easier "spring cleaning".

I start from the top floor and work my way down. I am usually through the place over a weekend (including deep carpet cleaning).