Unclutterer

1. Posted by Another Deb - 05/04/2009

   My “desk” is that ubiquitous lab demonstration table in the front of the classroom, and it is definately clutter-free. The small built-in sink contains a mini-file for handouts, the teacher text and the attendance book (water turned off from the source) The working surface holds a stapler, hole punch and laptop.

   The absence of pencil cups, family pictures and cutsie stuff allows students to focus on me or what I am doing that day. Any equipment or materials present on the desk are specifically used that day.

   My room is shared by a traveling teacher, so the bare surface lets her have full use of the space as well. We can both tell if we have our own materials when we leave the room.

2. Posted by Mark - 05/04/2009

   David Allen recommends that only four types of items be visible in an office–especially one’s workstation:

   1) Decorations; 2) Supplies; 3) Reference and 4) Equipment. I would add, 5) The project at hand.

   Everything else gets stowed in its place.

   This advice has down wonders reducing clutter and the amount of glittering/tempting stuff that I allow to steal my focus (this was proliferated by my having muliple projects spread out at the same time). My problem is that I’m creatively stunted and my work area tends to look “productive” (even a bit egalitarian) rather than inviting and that of a “leader”. (I’m a department head at a small college)

3. Posted by The Daily Click - 05/04/2009

   I’d never considered the importance of the CEO’s office before but the post certainly rings true with me. The one company I worked for where the CEO’s office was in a constant state of disarray was the one company I worked for which went under due to numerous issues one of which being chaotic organization.

4. Posted by Michael - 05/04/2009

   Sadly, I don’t think a clutter-free cubicle will send the right message; cubicle employees are supposed to be worker-ants trudging through heaps of work; I have known a few people who keep their cubicles messy on purpose to look busy.

   An uncluttered cubicle might send the message “I don’t have enough to do, give me more!” or, even worse, “I don’t have enough to do–I’m expendable.”

   If you work for a good company, however, ignore everything I just said.

5. Posted by momofthree - 05/04/2009

   Funny this story runs today. On Friday afternoon, I contacted this site for I was just overwhelmed by the amount of clutter I had to deal with when in our school district I subbed for a nurse’s aide one day at a one school, and as a secretary at another school for two days! What a mess both desks were inside and out!! Four letter openers in one desk drawer alone, three “scotch tape” dispensers on the same desk, and writing implements GALORE!!

   The other desk had so many expired coupons, pieces of paper with phone numbers with no names, paperwork from 2 to 3 school years ago, and again, many duplicates of office supplies in every drawer, loose pills (i think they were tylenol–the basic shape of the indents prevailed) and food crumbs–(ick ick ick)

   Back before kids in my corporate secretary days, I kept a very clean desk and everything had a place. I did keep a fairly clean work surface, and my drawers were neat and well organized. The company car keys were on a key ring, with a book ring attaching them to a small clip board for sign out. The bosses thought I was a genius for thinking of that. If anyone needed anything, I could find it in a snap, and this was in the days before desk top computers were the norm. Yes, there was the occasional piece of down time, so I would update my rolodex, use a mini vac and clean my TYPEWRITER keyboard, and more importantly, update any notes I would keep regarding any aspect of my position.

   I should also mention that our school district has a very complicated phone system (13 buildings in four towns) and there are only notes on of the two desks I was at about how to transfer a call….NOTES for both jobs were pretty much non existent.
   I truly felt like I was flying by the seat of my pants, and of course, the school principals were clueless about what the secretary really did all day!!

   Oh, I adore this site and how much more I have learned to apply to my life. as a pretty much stay at home mom of three in a small house. my mantra is ” a place for everything and everything in it’s place” Thanks for letting me rant by the way!

6. Posted by knitwych - 05/04/2009

   I think Michael brings up a good point. There seems to be a fine line between having a tidy desk/workspace where your bosses know you get work done and a tidy desk/workspace where your bosses may think very little is done. I’ve worked for bosses who praised tidiness in the workplace, and bosses who felt that if your desk wasn’t piled with stuff, you didn’t have enough to do. I think you just have to see what the climate is like in your workplace, and work around that.

   I have to admit that I am always a little uncomfortable in sterile, work-only areas devoid of personal touches. And once, during an interview, I found that the boss’s clutter helped me. She had dozens of cat photos and figurines around, so we talked cats for 15 minutes before the interview started. When I received the letter offering me the job, she said: “P.S. Thanks for the advice you gave me on my cats. I really appreciated your suggestions.” I know I was quite qualified for that job (over qualified, actually), but competition was pretty fierce, and I’m sure that my pre-interview casual chat made me stand out from the rest of the candidates.

   In my home office, I keep my desktop real estate populated only with things I need/use frequently. I tend to like functional things in whimsical colors or shapes, so it may look cluttered at first glance. But if you look again, you’ll note that the purple bat-shaped box holds jumbo paper clips and binder clips, the pink & purple thing standing in the desktop sorter is actually a calculator, and the bright red magnet board mounted on the wall beside the desk is actually a file rack holding my ‘hot files’ (files I’m consulting daily or at least several times a week).

   If you’re prone to having a couple dozen sticky notes stuck around, and stacks of papers, just adopt a couple kittens. Once they start applying Kitten Logic (“If I can’t eat it or sleep on it, it’s a toy. If I can get to it before you can, it’s MY toy.”) to your workspace, you’ll jolly well pare it down to the essentials and make efficient use of filing cabinets and so forth.

7. Posted by Joan - 05/04/2009

   I have to agree in part with Michael’s post. I keep my desk especially neat at work, where I am the editor for several sections of my local newspaper. Some of my coworkers are less than neat.

   And guess who, more often than not, gets asked to do extra work? Yep, the person who doesn’t “look busy” because I’m not buried in paper.

   I’ll also point out that my office supplies tend to “walk” a lot. Why wouldn’t they? You can actually FIND my stapler. Well, when it hasn’t gone to visit one of the reporters’ desks, that is.

8. Posted by Michele - 05/04/2009

   LOL, did you notice that the Forbes article profiled zero women CEO’s?

   Anyway, I have a home office, but to tell the truth I get most of my work done on the kitchen table. Since my kitchen table is just a little dinette table that seats 2 people (myself and my daughter), that means that I have to keep the kitchen table cleared off constantly! It’s impossible to work at that table if we haven’t cleaned up from the last meal, and it’s impossible to eat at that table if I haven’t put my work away.

9. Posted by Another Deb - 05/04/2009

   You may not have this issue, but a cluttered workspace keeps the custodial staff from getting their work done as well. I worked my way through college as a night custodian in offices and banks. I had to clean ashtrays, Windex the glass desktops and empty trash for dozens of desks each night.

   Some people had so much junk on their desks that the surface stayed coated with eraser crumbs, loose ashes and ejected staples. There no way to politely clean thoroughly for fear of breaking Junior’s latest clay creation or perhaps spilling a pile of paperwork.

   The bank manager had a fancy wooden trash can that gave me splinters because it was heavy, slippery and had no place to grip securely. His trophys and golfing paraphenalia cluttered up the credenza already piled with manilla folders full of papers.

   Geez, it was the seventies and I can still remember the smell of coffee and cigarette ashes swirled around in the bottom of a trash can.

10. Posted by Oliver Ruehl - 05/05/2009

    My desk is a total mess and I love it.
    I LOVE IT!

    It signals: “You won’t find anything here if you don’t ask me.”

    I clean up my desk every week, but the basic mess is always there. Most important projects are always on top of piles. Easy.

    That’s me. So what? I find what I need and that’s important.

    Many photos, scribbles and other things keep me creative, but don’t distract me at all.

    “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what then, is an empty desk?” – Albert Einstein

11. Posted by Lori Paximadis - 05/05/2009

    I have to agree with those who commented about knowing your work environment before assuming a clean desk is always best. I, too, have worked places where an empty desk was taken as a sign that you didn’t have enough to do. (I’ve also worked places where you were forced to completely clear your desk surface at the end of the day and lock everything away.)

12. Posted by sue - 05/05/2009

    I also have the tools that “walk away”, so I either buy the most blaringly bright pink version available or write my name in PINK paintpen on the side. (Male co-workers seem to be allergic to pink.) Once I created a milk carton with a photo of my stapler on it with the “Have you seen this stapler?” caption.

13. Posted by gypsy packer - 05/07/2009

    The pink-tool shop knife, screwdriver, and tack hammer now come with flowered finishes, and the male thieves do, indeed, refrain from stealing them.

    In an honest workplace, keep your desk clean. When dealing with thieves, clutter with coupons and paper scraps, keep your handwriting illegible, and keep records, schedules, and nice complicated passwords on the phone, PDA, or the never-obsolete little spiral notebook.

    My current workspace holds a laptop and laptop cooler on top, along with my computer glasses. Peripherals are concealed; the decor is the window and a vintage store thermometer and trash can. No more.

14. Posted by Thomasina - 05/08/2009

    I have to keep things neat and tidy, for my own sanity. But this is really bad for me where I work because my boss will regularly come into my office and say “What, a clean desk? What’s the matter, you don’t have anything to do?” Most of my work is computer based – why does he imagine I should have piles of paper hanging around?

    At one point during a merger I ended up with several huge stacks of paperwork that needed to be processed and when my boss walked in you just see the gleam in his eye and hear the excitement in his voice when he said “Wow, look at all that paper!” And they say I’m the one who’s got a sickness about being neat and organized? When I finally got it all taken care of he came in and his whole tone and demeanor was sagging with disappointment when said “What happened to all your piles of paper?”

    I probably should take some of the above advice and messy up my desk for the sake of my job. I’m so overworked right now, but he keeps acting like I’m not getting anything done!? Of course, when all those stacks where cluttering my desk he gave me LOTS of room because he “knew” I already had a lot to do.

    I’m so frustrated – why, oh why should I be punished for being neat, organized, on top of things, and for being a really hard worker?

15. Posted by Erin Doland - 05/08/2009

    @Thomasina — Have you talked to your boss about the situation? Explain how you work and why you don’t like papers on your desk. I have found that simply talking to your superiors ends most frustrations of this kind. Also, while you’re in the meeting, ask your boss to help you prioritize your workflow. Then, he/she will be able to fully see what you have on your to-do list.

16. Posted by Kalle - 05/10/2009

    You could always keep your paperwork neatly in a folder rack on your desk. That way you signal others that you have things to do but also keep your workspace nice and tidy for yourself. I do this, in fact, even though I work from home. I like to have my frequently accessed papers close at hand.

17. Posted by WilliamB - 05/05/2010

    @Mark wrote: “David Allen recommends that only four types of items be visible in an office–especially one’s workstation: 1) Decorations; 2) Supplies; 3) Reference and 4) Equipment. I would add, 5) The project at hand.”

    This works for some people but not for others. Some people never have anything out but what they were working on right then. They have a mental list and so were comfortable putting everything else away. (They also had a place to put things away, and no more than one project they were working on at a time.)(Yes, its possible to work on two projects at once if, for example, the one of them involves waiting for machinery to do its thing.)

    Others keep out all their current projects, then move them to permanent storage (filing cabinet or trash can) when the project was done. Their list was what was on their desk.

    My thought is that either works as long as the person knows what’s going on. I’m a “keep it out” type: if I put it away I forget about it. To-do lists don’t help. I could make my desk *look* neat in 2 minutes by putting all the paper in tidy piles and lining up the edges of my file folders. It would look neat but it would be very disorganized and it would cost me a lot of time to figure things out again.

    It’s my supplies and reference material that I put away. Amazing how fast that stuff can grow legs and walk away.

    I worked for one CEO who had a “show” office and a “real” office. Guess what each looked like?

18. Posted by Kathleen - 05/05/2010

    I’m a litigator at a large firm, and a natural minimalist/unclutterer. Whenever other litigators walk into my office, they invariably remark on the lack of mess (to the point where I’ve been asked “Are you leaving the firm?”) People, we may work with millions of pages of documents, but they’re digitized!

    My husband, on the other hand, is a defense contractor. His boss says “if you can’t fit your office into your briefcase, you have too much.” I’m so jealous.

19. Posted by Tiffany - 05/30/2010

    I agree with the poster who said that if you buy decorative, original utensils you won’t have a problem finding your supplies. I either label everything or buy colorful, unique designs. Even though people borrow my scissors, they have flowers all over them and when I see them on someone’s desk I’ll say, “Thanks for asking to borrow my scissors.” Over time people have learned to use them at my desk or ask before borrowing so that they won’t be embarrassed that they forgot to return them.

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