Most of us spend at least 40 hours a week at work, much of that time spent at our desks. We’re composing emails, we’re triaging tasks, we’re jumping on phone calls, we’re strategizing with co-workers. Your office is your home away from home, and your desk is essentially your bedroom… we spoke with a handful of men about how they design their workspaces as reflections of their personalities and as a way to drive productivity and creativity.
Mashable is a mixed bag of news and information, so they’ve essentially become the epitome of “the media”.
This article is one of many that I’ve seen in the past few months. I blame all the security issues and tech news. I guess there’s sudenly this mistique surrounding us keyboard cowboys. Plus, a lot of people sit at their desk all day and do really boring work. So I suppose to soe extent they’re hoping to mirror the behaviors of these trendy folk and be happier in life.
My issue is that nearly none of these workspaces actually look productive. First, and most glaring, is the total lack of screen realestate. Most these guys have a single monitor, and a small one to boot! Almost anyone getting paid for virtual productivity will tell you that screen realestate is key: http://calacanis.com/2008/03/10/large-monitor-productivity/
Second, look at how clean all of these desks are. Seriously. There’s not a single can of Pringles, a can of Red Bull, or even an out of place pen. I get that the photos are probably staged, but why do we have to push this idea that creativity/productivity are clean processes? Creativity and problem solving are messy. No one is seriously stacking their devices and pens into perfect little geometric spaces unless they have some serious OCD.
Third, who are these guys? I mean, hey awesome dudes. Kudos on your cleanliness and all, but where are the heavy hiters? Desks I want to see:
- Mark Zuckerburg (then and now)
- Bill Gates
- Guy who did Reddit
- Jeff Bezos
You catch my drift? These guys all, at least for a while, had their hands in various aspects of their respective companies. They’re all friggan smart, and they have tons of money. I want to see what and uber-genius guy with load of money chooses to put on his desk. For accuracy, I’d also love to see/hear how that has changed as their role has changed. That would be a real story rather than the link-bait I just read.
