I've found the easiest stuff to organize is the stuff I no longer have. I used to feel obligated to file a lot of stuff that came in the mail, like addendums to insurance policies, annual reports for stocks or funds, credit card statements, etc. But it dawned on me long ago that I virtually never need to refer back to that stuff. So it goes straight into the trash. When the bookshelves in my office fill up, I cull the books and donate them to Goodwill or sell them to a used bookstore. Old clothes, shoes, etc. are routinely purged from my life.

Some people love to acquire new things. I love getting rid of old things that no longer serve a purpose in my life.

In 2011, Whittaker and colleagues published a research paper with the title “Am I Wasting My Time Organizing Email?”. The answer is: yes, you are. People who use the search function find their email more quickly than those who click through carefully constructed systems of folders.

I used to organize email into folders meticulously, later using tags and rules. What a complete waste of time. These days I refuse to spend even a second organizing email or reducing my inbox, as I can summon any email even from years ago in a few seconds with fuzzy search terms. Here's another heresy I'm testing that I think may turn out to be true: Spending any effort whatsoever organizing files on your computer is equally worthless.

I've been using the Super Organised Method and didn't know it. Though not with papers (so much). I use it with clothes, books, and digital content like apps on my phone.

  To most of us, it may seem obvious that piling is
  dysfunctional while filing is the act of a serious
  professional. Yet when researchers from the office
  design company Herman Miller looked at high-performing
  office workers, they found that they tended to be
  pilers. They let documents accumulate on their desks,
  used their physical presence as a reminder to do work,
  and relied on subtle cues — physical alignment, dog-
  ears, or a stray Post-it note — to orient themselves.

Removing the cognitive load of precise classification, using the physical space for physical items or multi-dimensional tag system for digital items, allows you to focus on the work itself and not on the items that make up the work.

If you really need a filing system, hire a librarian.

“If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?” - Albert Einstein

Interesting. A messy desk (i.e. anything that doesn't just have my laptop and notebook on it) really bothers me and makes it hard to focus.

At my last job, I shared an office with my supervisor, and his desk was messy. I mean, my desks tend to accumulate a Cambrian layer over time, but this guy had two desks to himself, both were covered more than a foot deep in paper. I am not exaggerating.

One day, I carefully asked him if I could help him clean up some space. I was kind of nervous, because - while otherwise the best boss I ever had - he was not very good at taking what he perceived as criticism. To my surprise, though, he broke into a mischievous grin and said, "If I start to clean up here, it will take no more than five minutes for my boss to come in here and ask me if I have nothing better to do."

His boss was kind of a neat freak when it came to his own desk, but he was indeed the kind of boss who, when he saw you cleaning up your desk, would ask you if had nothing better to do. (Which suited me fine, to be honest, my current boss is more the "You should clean up your desk"-kind of guy...)

TL;DR - a messy desk can be fine, so long as it does not control you. I have seen people whose desks looked messy, but when asked for a specific item, they could reach for it without hesitation. Once you spend more time searching for things than you save by not keeping it in order, you have a problem.

I wanted to take this opportunity to give a shameless endorsement of Google's Inbox app.

I prefer something like what the article called the "piler" strategy. I don't like spending precious time and energy organizing things. But the problem is if I have too many things in front of me, I can't concentrate. My anxiety builds up. My creativity vanishes.

The Inbox app lets me reach an optimal balance of order and productivity. It's changed my life. And ever since, I've been proselytizing it.

This post thinks that you have to trade off order and productivity, but why not both? It now sounds like a false trade-off to me.

(PS Using search rather than categories and folders for email and files also was a big win but I'm not as excited about that now because that was years ago.)

A mess in a fixed area can serve as a reminder of your mental limit. When your space is “full”, use the opportunity to take care of something and clean it up again (don’t buy more shelves or more boxes, for example). And ideally, entirely get rid of things you are not using. It’s the same with computers: you don’t want to let yourself do the digital equivalent of buying more shelves or boxes (don’t let yourself easily create even more new desktops or folders, to store an ever-increasing list of tasks); let your screen fill up with things to do and then use that pressure to take some of those items off your list.

I feel like there's some parallel lurking here with software development. I've never seen a production codebase that doesn't have it's own share of clutter, mismash and rough edges similar to a disorganized desk.

Moving business requirements, obscure edge cases, performance concerns all seem to creep into an "orderly" codebase.

I don't think this applies to all software, things with a very long release/feedback cycle(aerospace, medical, etc) necessitate planning and careful deliberation but there's certainly a tension between order and shipping code.

A friend of mine described work in the planning dept for major manufacturer. On the shop floor where equipment, parts shelves, tools all belonged were outlined in tape. This would show if something was out of place and keep the floor orderly.

However at his desk he was also required to outline everything in tape. His stapler, keyboard, mousepad, laptop, wires running across were all outlined on the desk in tape. They would have desk audits, and any repeated deviation, where an item was outside its outline, would result in HR action.

I've got a hybrid method that works pretty well for me. May not be for everyone. I have:

L1 cache - stuff on my desk that needs to be paid or read in the next 30 days.

L2 cache - Bills that have been paid and docs that have been read, but things that might need to be referenced in the next year - in a banker's box next to my desk, completely unfiled. Just drop them in when paid/read.

RAM - At the end of the year, file the stuff in the banker's box into a small set of folders in a file cabinet or drawer.

Disk - At the end of the year, move last year's files into a banker's box and put it in the basement/garage/storage.

Also at the end of the year, take the box that's 7 years old to the professional shredder's place and destroy it.

I do have email folders for mailing lists. I find that if I don't, then searching brings up too many hits, and if I can narrow the search to a particular list, that will reduce the number of false positives. I have a rule per mailing list, so it's very easy to maintain.

Recombination in the midst of mess, something the neurotic order makers and perfecter s cant see. Your brand new concepts, was born in a bloody mess, imperfected and shivering. And it was born by a different mindset, and will be again. There are things you cant see, you cant become, you cant create, limits, that you can not overcome, because they make you so great in all the other situations.

No, side is more worth than the others, though the cooperate bureaucrats would be of another opinion, because you cant see, what has yet to be. You cant differentiate against what chaos will give birth too. Enjoy your day.

This post is derived from his latest book, Messy. I haven't read it, but it looks interesting. The other day there was another article also based on the book that I thought was good (on problems with automation):

Crash: how computers are setting us up for disaster https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/11/crash-how...

I've worked with quite a few older successful CEOs of varying industries, and a majority have and use a Neat desktop scanner:

http://amzn.to/2epDLEr

One of the CEOs had his malfunction, and re-appropriated his son's a day later.

The image recognition and organization are decent, but I can see how relying on it, and having it fail, can be very disruptive to one's process.

File cabinets and file folders don't seem to suffer from such things.

I want to print this out. Draw a giant middle finger on it. Then post it on the entry to my cube. So friggin badly.

Take that you neatniks.

Some people who have what appears to be a disorganized mess, always know EXACTLY where any particular item is when it is wanted.

Didn't realise Tim Harford had a website. More or Less is an excellent programme, I listen weekly.