Organization, client impressions, and a peaceful mind

Reid Trautz recently posted ("Files That Talk") on the power that the cleanliness and clutteredness of one's desk, office, and files can have on a client's impressions. I think clutter also makes a difference in the effectiveness of one's work and one's comfort in one's workspace. I say this based on my experience transitioning from having cluttered desks, to organized desks that still had lots of paper on them, to clean desks.

I confess that in the not-so-distant past I had a rather cluttered desk and office. The files themselves, the folders in which I kept original paper documents, were carefully maintained. But they filled my office in untidy ways. At work, I blamed it on the fact that the documents in my cases had far exceeded the volume of storage space available in my office and on the firm's shelves. (At least my desk was far from being the most cluttered desk at the firm.) Numerous file-boxes lived in my office. At home, I blamed it on having too much work to sort through the clutter at home. Yes, in both places, the piles were organized. I really could find what I needed in there — but they were still piles.

Piles are problems. Even "organized" clutter can disorient. As a packrat, I often kept paper close at hand for quick reference even though all of the paper documents had been scanned into the computer. When someone walks into your office with a question, it's nice to be able to have the key documents within arm's reach. But I still always felt best when I took some time on a Friday afternoon or weekend to send most of the encroaching paper to the nearest shred-and-recycle bin. Having stacks of paper around means that you have paper right in front of you that you have to track and index in your head constantly. That's a waste of brainpower that could be focused on real problem-solving. It may not be a huge waste — I'll allow that many people are very good at keeping track of things in their heads, and I often like to think that I'm one of them — but it adds a layer of stress and increases the amount of thinking that you have to do to find anything.

I've implemented a system more recently that helps keep paper from accumulating. I really like it. Right now my desk at home — which is for the moment my only desk — has the following pieces of paper on it:

• Two 8.5 x 11 inch ruled notepads, stacked
• Two 5 x 8 inch ruled notepads, stacked
• A file folder with notes and documents related to an upcoming interview

That's all. The notepads don't have any notes accumulating in them — those go immediately into nearby files for current projects. The shelves supported by the desk contain CDs, a few books, a photo or two, and even some open space, and the rest of the desk surface area contains only the computer monitor, a lamp, and those office tools that I use every day. Several expandable folders nearby contain files for my current projects and temporary storage of material I need for upcoming tasks.

I plan to keep it that way. It won't always be easy, because reducing entropy requires some investment of work. I may "fall off the wagon" occasionally. It's definitely not a perfect system (please let me know if you find one!) But I think it'll be a lot easier once the stage is set and some kind of structure is already laid in place, and having the space clear makes everything else easier.

The same principles apply to your computer. If you have a cluttered computer desktop with icons you never use spilling all over the place, or your personal documents (or worse, a shared filing system) are poorly organized, you will have great difficulty finding anything. What's worse, a bad filing system, whether electronic or paper, can gain traction among a group of users when they become adequately accustomed to it that they know where to find certain key documents in it, even though it's lousy as a general document-finding system. That makes it even harder to do what really needs to be done.

Like Reid said, not a sermon, just a thought.