
Ask HN: working habits - minimalism or "organized" chaos? - k7d
A lot of people show-off their super tidy minimalist's workplace with nothing more than a monitor, keyboard and mouse.<p>But that doesn't seem to work in real life. At least for most of productive people that I know. When you really focus on work, everything around you fades out and the attention becomes too precious to be wasted on organizing environment.<p>So what works better for you?
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ankeshk
Actually Joe Sugarman (the marketer who made the usage of 1800 toll free
numbers in ads popular) tested this out a couple of decades ago for his entire
company.

Doesn't matter if people have organized desks or chaotic desks. Doesn't matter
if they have a minimalistic desk or a cluttered one. Just follow one rule:
shut down everything before you leave for the day.

At the end of the day, everything should be in its proper place. You can't
have 3 folders open on your desk - they have to be closed and put in its place
on the shelf.

That one rule gave a tremendous boost to employee productivity.

~~~
jsankey
This sounds interesting, but unfortunately I was unable to find any more
significant information about the tests. It seems that it's mentioned in a few
of Sugarman's books but that's it. In particular I'm interested in how
controlled the tests were and how they measured productivity? Would I find
this kind of detail in the books?

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ivenkys
Very clean and minimal desk and desktop, easy(right hand) access to
Notebook+Pen, easy(left hand) access to Coffee and Water cups that are placed
on top of unused mouse pads. Silent mobile on the monitor stand, unhooked
telephone on left hand side.

Reference books on top drawer. At the end of the day cups go to sink, notebook
and book go back to their respective places.

Most important for productivity separate machines(laptop for
browsing/email/IM, desktop for work) for separate tasks and starting work at a
proper(quiet) time.

I have always found that if i can get the above right i have a good day.

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yannis
I work in _intense spurts_ , when I do, I am so focused on the task that I
really don't care what's happening around the keyboard:), my desk gets
cluttered very quickly with coffee cups, the occasional book, keys, notebook,
pieces of paper etc. After a couple of hours it resembles a battlefield.
However, before I start on a new task, I like to clear everything:)

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jacquesm
Cluttered desktop but a meticulously organized harddrive.

And I think that is where the biggest productivity boost comes from, not
having to hunt around from files but to have stuff in its place.

If you messed up my desk it would take me 20 minutes to recover, if you messed
up my directory structure I'd probably be in custody 24 hours later :)

(Or I'd restore from the svn).

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pasbesoin
Some people use what is apparently innate spacial orientation.to manage large
volumes of material. E.g. the iconic cluttered professor's or researcher's
office. But when they need something, they know exactly what pile it is in and
about where within that pile (how deep). The surroundings provide a three
dimensional environment rich in sensory cues, which they can readily remember
and within which they can readily navigate.

There was a New Yorker or similar article on this, some years ago, that
addressed the enduring nature of paper in the electronic age. If I can find
it, I'll post the URL.

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kgopal
I think there should be some order on the desk and allow for easy reach to the
stuff you want. I keep a notebook and pen to the right of the keyboard to note
out stuff I might have missed. For everything else, that I do, I use the
keyboard and desktop. Like someone said. Clean Desktop. Ordered (could be
messy but still ordered) desk. Always a notebook and pen and you are good to
go.

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arnorhs
I'd recommend tidying up and cleaning every now and then. You don't have to go
all minimalist on us, though

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ahlatimer
I'm somewhere in between. My desk is mostly occupied by my desktop, external
display, keyboard, and mouse, but I usually have an ash tray, a cup or two,
and a few random things that I should probably put away. It never looks too
bad, but it's never perfectly clean either.

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Ixiaus
I don't have a spartan work area (or computer desktop) but it is minimal and
logically organized. I follow one primary rule: always put away what I've been
using.

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khandelwal
A clean desk. I'd like to achieve a minimalist workplace, but often fall
short. Often, I'll clean up my desk before starting work for the day.

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iuguy
Cluttered desk. Clean desktop.

Works for me.

