I couldn't help but shake my head and chuckle as I read Malone's article "How Do People Organize Their Desks?", especially the description of Michael's "neat" office.
It helped that Michael had a relatively large office with a variety of furniture. I remember trying to create a similar sort of file management, with just as many live piles, in a tiny cubicle with one desk that my computer sat on and a small bookcase. Although this article discussed the degree to which the study participants were organized, and the degree to which they were successful in finding files, it made no analysis of the equipment/furniture that impacted each person's organization.
Of course, in the digital world, this issue is less important. Or is it?
Posted by LisaB at February 25, 2003 03:03 PMI do think size makes a difference in the digital world. At home, my 15" monitor allows me to keep significantly fewer items on my desktop/windows open than the 22" monitor I use at work. I've run across music programs which are designed for larger monitors - having to scroll across the interface really limits the functionality on smaller screens.
The decription of Kenneth's office reminded me of a professor I had as an undergraduate who had a horribly disorganized office. We turned in a paper early in the semester, but the professor managed to misplace them in his office. He swore that he'd find them before the class ended, but had to drop the grade when he never did. I ran into the professor the next semester, and he said he did find the papers...he'd brought them home so they wouldn't get lost in his office.
Posted by: Tara on February 25, 2003 04:28 PMOne thing you hear a lot right now is that (computer) storage is cheap, so you can buy more "room" relatively easily. Monitors aren't so cheap but are still more affordably priced than they used to be. One thing I'm planning to do this year is buy a second 17" monitor so that I can keep more windows open. This is also the reason I prefer to work in Linux rather than on my virtual Windows computer, which lives in a smaller window.
One thing that I don't think Malone considered is the difference between shared and private spaces. I've found that I'm significantly neater in a shared office than I am in a private one. I'm probably still neater than most, even at home (I do a lot of filing), but I don't want to do anything at work to upset my officemates. What are the implications of that for the design of PIMs?
Posted by: dcplumer on February 25, 2003 04:58 PM