Clutter is cool In my salary universe, chaos and order of a permanent staff which is often fought fiercely among the scribbled notations, newspaper clips, excerpts and other information scattered around my workspace. So I can sympathies with Karen Jackson, Texas, a teacher who recently grabbed first place in a competition to find an office dirtiest in America.
The contest was sponsored by Little, Brown and Company as part of their promotion for a new book, A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder - How Crammed Closets, desks cluttered and over-the-Fly Planning Make a world a better Place by Eric Abrahamson and David Freedman. The authors claim that cleanliness has a wide range of negative consequences and can actually make workers less efficient.
I'm not proud of clutter that builds up next to my pens and pencils. I know it would be more efficient to keep a larger volume of data stored electronically. However, I often get ideas and write them without warning immediately on the nearest envelope or scrap of junk mail, and I like to have physical contact with my notes whenever I get around to sorting through them.
I am in awe of people who have embraced the use of mobile phones, Black Berrys, and wireless networks. But the cyber environment is a high speed. It prides itself on speed and efficiency. I was raised in a household that emphasized "haste makes waste" and "slowly but surely." Instant Answers to important questions are not encouraged. More common is the expression of the parents, "Think about it."
"Think" is, of course, a euphemism for "I do not get caught giving an answer I will regret later." In other words, you are dropping, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
Stall is one of the great traditions of all bureaucratic organizations.
Having worked as a mid-level employee, I did, and I have no regrets.
My paper patterns may seem messy and outdated, but all fans of the paperless office should keep in mind one fact: if the sun ever ejects a ball of plasma like the one that blew on this planet in 1859, our power grids, microwave towers and fiber optics could be turned into fried spaghetti.
Fortunately, no mass of electrons can disrupt the paths of paper in my office. Just give me a place to sit, a stack of Post-its, and a fairly large office, and I will hold the Earth.
Posted on April 16, 2011.
