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?
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.<p>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.<p>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.<p>That one rule gave a tremendous boost to employee productivity.
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.<p>Reference books on top drawer. At the end of the day cups go to sink, notebook and book go back to their respective places.<p>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.<p>I have always found that if i can get the above right i have a good day.
I work in <i>intense spurts</i>, 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:)
Cluttered desktop but a meticulously organized harddrive.<p>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.<p>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 :)<p>(Or I'd restore from the svn).
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.<p>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.
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.
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.
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.