in reply to A Meditation on a Monk's place of toil

Clutter? Why remove the clutter? If I remove the clutter, I will simply go looking for more clutter. My desk being cluttered, I can concentrate on the code I write.

What is clutter? Do the 4 yo-yos on my desk count as clutter? I call them meditation aids, to occupy the hands so that the mind may be unfettered. The same to be said of the many toys which litter my desk.

Is clutter the NTI switch on my desktop? But how better to put a real keyboard ( ie, Sun Type 5 ) onto a PC so I may type correctly, instead of shouting at my editor because some useless git has decided the CAPLOCKS key needs to be where the CONTROL key really belongs?

Clutter is camouflage of the best type. Somebody who has a clean desk obviously does not have enough to do and the managers, team leads and users will find more to be done. Thus, even the items without obvious use become useful to me.

Clutter is that which allows me to study the ways of Perl without interuption. mikfire

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Re: Re: A Meditation on a Monk's place of toil
by dws (Chancellor) on Feb 07, 2001 at 05:12 UTC
    There is overlap between "clutter" and "essential tools". (Where would I be without my pile of PostIt notes?). But on most of the desks I look at, there is (to my eye) non-essential clutter. For example, tape dispensers are standard-issue here; everyone gets one. But nobody uses the damn things. And yet there they sit, taking up space on 9 out of 10 desks (Including mine, until the Meditation earlier today).

    So much of the stuff we surround ourselves with just sort of fades into the background, never to be questioned.

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      On my desk, today's essential clutter becomes tomorrow's non-essential clutter.
      On my desk, today's non-essential clutter will ultimately become shale.

      Somehow, this appears as the natural order of things.

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Re: Re: A Meditation on a Monk's place of toil
by LinearB (Sexton) on Feb 07, 2001 at 04:12 UTC
    I do not believe that clutter is bad. The clutter is a defence against the prying eyes around me and as mikfire stated, a clean desk will call the attention of managers and other mundanes.
    Who knows what would have happened if my zipdiscs wasnt well hidden among paper, postit notes, books and once tasty snacks, not that they contain anything else than old projects and labreports.
    Aslong as the camel book (or in my case the llama book) surfs ontop the clutter all is well.
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