Desk Organization

My desk has surface chaos.

At any point in time there is a wide spread of papers and forms muddled in with post-its and catalogs on my desk. But with just a little shuffling, the notes and drawings can be pulled into piles and neatness appears. Underneath the skin deep mayhem, everything is relatively organized.

Perhaps I’m just trying to rationalize my heinous working environment.

New rule! Every day, before I leave for lunch, I’m going to fix up the desk area.

How would you rate your desk?

14 thoughts on “Desk Organization

  • 10/25/2006 at 8:08 am
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    I don’t have an office job, so my desk is something that holds stuff, usually temporarily until I can’t fit anymore stuff on it and then I clean it and put most of the stuff away somewhere else.

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  • 10/25/2006 at 8:11 am
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    2/3 of my desk are immaculate, the other 1/3 is a huge pile of papers/cups/headphones/pens/soy nuts/timecards.

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  • 10/25/2006 at 8:20 am
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    My desk is insane. I think it holds double its weight in shop drawings, plans, notes, etc. But all of my business cards are in a neat stack.

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  • 10/25/2006 at 8:22 am
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    My desk is mostly clean as I just don’t keep a lot of paper around.

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  • 10/25/2006 at 9:46 am
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    I don’t have an office desk as my job is to spin clark positively to prospective students from the comfort of the Admission lobby couches. However, I have to admit I was somewhat disgusted at the description of your desk, until I realized my home computer desk isn’t much better, wth lots of mail, receipts and nerdy computer games strewn about. You’ve inspired me to organize!

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  • 10/25/2006 at 10:02 am
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    My desk is organized but with a lot of stuff around. I have little stations: papers to be shredded, tea station(teacup and nice boxes of tea), computer, project piles etc. I don’t think it’s messy at all but others might conisider it cluttered.

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  • 10/25/2006 at 11:42 am
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    I don’t have an office desk either, but my desk at home…good grief is it covered in the most random assortment of crap. Everything from an old unused wallet, hemp Body Shop hand lotion (ridiculously awesome), jewelry strewn about, cash, keys, coins, pens, digital camera USB cable, beer bottle caps, post-its, old mail, chapstick, old receipts, a roll of masking tape, coupons, a moose, cds, Isaac Asimov’s Fountation trilogy (which is fantastic and I need to finish reading it), coasters, tags from clothing, and other things that in general just get in the way when i try to put a drink down on my desk. And this is all in addition to the things the should be there…computer, keyboard, desklamp, speakers, external HD, mousepad & trackball, and a phone. My desk has roughly 1.5’x3′ of top surface area. And nothing is in neat little piles even remoted suggesting some tiype of organization. But then again as I look around my room, its no surprise that my desk isn’t any neater.

    Caitlin = HUGE SLOB!!!

    I suppose that comes with the territory of being a professional bum.

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  • 10/25/2006 at 12:05 pm
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    At work, we have to keep all of the proprietary information (and there’s a lot of it) stored in our desks or cabinets. We have a lot of non-company workers around here (partnered aerospace companies, etc), so we need to make sure our desks are clear of that sort of stuff.

    So… my desk has the usual: pens, pencils, water bottle, fruit, some new hire club planning stuff, my ipod, and, of course, lots and lots of orienteering maps. I swear, if you just saw my desk, you’d think I was a cartographer!

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  • 10/25/2006 at 6:38 pm
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    My desk is a solid 9 out of 10. It’s awfully hard to keep things neat at the Tool because enormous drawings take up loads of space, Mikey knows what I’m talkin about.
    In fact my whole office is pretty buttkickingly neat. I’d say clean, but the amount of crap I’ve spilled on my floor is probably spawning supergenius varieties of germs by now.

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  • 10/26/2006 at 8:05 am
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    That’s about what I have, except its 50-50. Right side: clean. Left side: disaster area.

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  • 10/26/2006 at 11:35 am
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    At UTC Power, we have a little thing called 5S. For any and all who have no idea what 5S is, I’d like to spell it out.

    1. Sort: Clearing the work area
    2. Set in Order: Designating locations
    3. Shine: Cleanliness & workplace appearance
    4. Standardize: Everyone doing things the same way
    5. Sustain: Ingraining the 5S’s into the culture

    It comes from some sort of Japanese Kaizen system of continuous improvement. Every Friday one of us from each cube area is designated to go around and “assess” everyone on a scale from 0-5 in each category, which for me means sit at my desk and make up scores for everyone. These scores are tracked over time to make sure we’re all good little worker bees, keeping our place neat, tidy and efficient… and always improving until perfection is attained. If anyone gets a score below a 3.0, they get audited and have to speak with their manager. Since the ratings are given from peers, no one ever gives below a 3.0 unless they’re looking to start a war, or already have a serious grudge. Anyway, it’s ridiculous, but it works. I’m by nature an ENORMOUS slob, but my desk at work is pro-quality all the way, a solid 4.0-4.5 rating. I get marked down for having personal effects such as photos I have posted on my tack board or my 7″ tall Easter Island stone head statue that holds my safety glasses and headphones. I’m not sure I’m allowed to complain though, and later the corporate goons will probably come “clean my clock” just for telling you all this.

    Big Brother is Watching…

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  • 10/27/2006 at 8:23 am
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    This could pose the question for all of you using more electronic files…. what does your “desktop” look like?

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  • 10/27/2006 at 12:16 pm
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    I would just like to say that this thread has encouraged me to clean the messy 1/3 side of my desk. Now all those papers are tucked away in labeled hanging file folders!

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  • 10/27/2006 at 5:24 pm
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    At home: layers and layers of random crap, paper, bills, DVD boxes, dirty plates (eww, must do the washing up), and books.
    At work: almost as bad, but only paper.

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