Time to clear those cluttered desks...
The Birmingham Mail is moving premises en masse later this year, the first full-scale office move since the late 1960s.
Not just the Mail. The Post, Mercury, advertising, finance... the entire company.
Goodbye Weaman Street, Printing House Street and Colmore Circus. Hello The Fort Dunlop building, that iconic tyre factory from the past that you can see from the motorway next to Jaguar.
The entire top floor will be ours, refitted as the largest single floor space outside London.
Huge changes are taking place in readiness for the move... and one of the most important is rubbish.
Lodged for so long in premises that are so old-fashioned, you can currently find sandwiches from 1974 at the back of filing cabinets. Some reporters' desks look like my old Grandad's attic. All this must and will change for the move.
We're told that on average all 500+ people on the move from our premises can expect to take a third of what they have with them. In some reporters' cases (Graham Young, our fanatical Film and TV editor being a great example) I've told them it's going to be one tenth, such in the mass of archives, papers, books and strange clutter on their desks.
Out will go press releases from the 1980s, favourite videos of Porridge from the same decade, and books that have not been opened in 20 years.
In will come neatness, shine and efficiency for our brave new world of gleaming multi-media waiting for us at The Fort.
Some staff (they will remain nameless) will get a real shock. So smart are the offices that my colleagues who wear trainers, jeans and T-shirts will look, and feel, out of place.
Let's hope they smarten up.
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Steve Dyson - Blog from the Editor on recent issues and events.
Steve
Guilty as charged - but I'm not giving up my mountain of mess that easily when murderers can get off the hook at the drop of a hat.
Knowing how good Mail readers are at making decisions, which option is it to be folks...
a) should my old papers stay living on my desk so that I might know what I'm talking about - rather like a useful, friendly old cat can still catch a rat whenever it's called upon to do so at a moment's notice; or
b) should they be tossed on to a bonfire to increase global warming; or
c) should they be sent off to landfill to contaminate the water supplies of future generations?
Of course, the real danger with tidying my desk, as I discover regularly at home, is that the minute it happens I won't be able to find what I'm looking for. Ever!
Just for fun, I searched for a solution to this universal problem via Google and came up with the following American link below.
Does anyone really want a 'tidy mind' as suggested by these Americans? Isn't life more fun when you are surrounded by a manageable degree of chaos?
Anyone got any better British ideas than these listed below?
I'm all ears – and the clock is ticking...
writenowisgood.typepad.com
The maximum-efficiency desk
Reader question: Kinda basic, but is there a way a writer with more than one project on the go can organize her/his desk to achieve optimum efficiency? What's the secret: piles? filing cabinets? sticky notes?
Sharon's answer:
This is actually not that basic a question because the organization of your desk is a reflection of your organizational system itself.
You've heard the saying, "A messy desk reflects a creative mind", right? Well, poppycock! That's just wishful thinking on our part :-) .
The truth is that a tidy desk reflects a tidy mind, and you'll have much better luck being creative if you aren't distracted by the piles of paper staring you in the face every time you sit down at your desk.
I was going to spend hours coming up with a post about the best way to organize your desk for optimal efficiency, but what do you know--LifeClever has already done my work for me! They have an amazing article called "10 tips for keeping your desk clean and tidy" that is based on the "Getting Things Done" productivity system (this is the system I use). LifeClever--"10 tips for keeping your desk clean and tidy"
In summary, their plan is:
1. Use a system to manage paper
2. Banish Post-It Notes (I guess this answers your question about sticky notes! ;-))
3. Trash those printouts
4. Keep blank file folders and a label marker at your desk
5. Ritualize your status reviews
6. Throw away pens
7. Say no to conference/office freebies
8. Get books away from your desk (that you're not using)
9. Eat away from your desk
10. Limit photo frames at your desk to 3 or less
Obviously the most complicated of these steps is "use a system to manage paper". Whole books have been written on that topic!
Basically, the things on your desk are items that you need at-the-ready within easy reach. Completed items, reference materials, and anything you don't want to throw away go into a filing cabinet.
I would say, "Just don't go there" in reference to "piles" :-) --When I hear "piles," it sort of sounds like a mish-mash of paper items, not an organization of easily accessible information, which is what we're going for! For sure, every person needs standard stackable letter trays for their desk.
I don't really use sticky notes at all. I used to though, and my office started to get overrun by them--everywhere I looked, there was a post-it reminding me to do something--kind of distracting!
Instead of post-it notes, I now use a simple list-making system. The lists include:
* A calendar--to house my to-do items that have a specific date and time
* Next Actions--basically a to-do list without specific dates and times
* Someday/Maybe--stuff I'd like to do someday eventually
* Waiting For--things that need input from other people before I proceed
I keep the Next Actions, Someday/Maybe, and Waiting For lists in a notebook (each list is separated by a divider).
(For more info on creating these lists, you can see my post "How To have more peace of mind and increase your productivity".)
The idea is to have as many information receptacles as you need on your desk, but as few as you can get away with. You also want to have very clear separations between projects and statuses.
Ideally, a well-organized, optimally efficient desk is one that allows you to easily access information while not having to over-think and worry about where things go.
>>> refitted as the largest single floor space outside London.
More miles of canal than Karachi, more balti houses than Venice. Size isn't everything and it's probably not true either.