Tidy or Chaotic?

I don't know about anyone else, but when I work, I usually create a mess. Afterward, I'll tidy up. If it's tidy before, I can't seem to be able to do any work because I'm afraid to make a mess, but if it's already a mess, then I don't have to worry about it.

MidniteFigther

I can tell you where to find every tool in my service truck................if I'm the only one working out of it. When my hands are working with me the best I hope for is controlled chaos. When my young sons get involved (off time) it's a forlorn conclusion that something will come up missing. At least the boys like tools better than tv.

A clean machine is a happy machine!

I'm very much on the chaotic side. Lot's of piles, but I generally know where everything is.

A cluttered desk is a sign of cluttered mind, said the corporate suit.

An empty desk is a sign of an empty mind, said the engineer.

...nice one.

Good question Del,

When it comes to production machinery i say keep it clean and clear of anything that might fall into it or snag on it. This can cause a world of trouble and loads of damage to production equipment.

On the other hand my personal workshop looks like a train wreck. Partially because I am a bit lazy about the cleanup. and Partly because of all the slobs that use my workshop.

I am lazy about the cleanup because of the slobs. Guess the bad does rub off on you eventually.

At any rate I have a shop to clean and it not getting done by itself......or is it?

<singing> Wastin away again in Margaritaville......Lookin for my lost shaker of salt.

Now what were we talking about???

I go from one extreme to the other. I like to start with a clean bench, but by the time I'm done it's a mess. I don't like to tidy it up until I'm done. But if I come to a problem I can't figure out I'll start cleaning up, that seems to free up my brain enough so that a solution will present itself. I prefer to have a TV or radio on, if possible, and be alone.

Tell me if this sounds familiar. If I can't find something, especially something I just had cleaning starts almost immediately.

Yes V familiar.

I amazed myself a while back..I was looking for a dished washer from an old power tool...some where in my garage...complete tip...hadn't used used it or seen it for at least 5 years.....6 mins later...bingo, got it!

But where are my glasses....?

I have this nice embroidered sign that says "creative minds are rarely tidy" It often disappears for weeks at a time in my stuff. When I do finally clean up I find it under something and it always makes me smile.

I put my self in the ordered chaos bin, when I can no longer find stuff in the chaos I do clean up, although sometimes that can take a while.

I find the chaos helps me come up with new ideas, you never know what two or more items will be in proximity of each other. Sometimes seeing things next to each other gives me new ideas about how to make something work or solve a problem.

Insactly mes petites...serendipitous juxtapositions!

('Insactly' is lick 'exactly'...but subtly different!)

I'm rather chaotic at work, but very tidy at home.

When I start, all is clean and in order. When I stop, it's to clean and reorder the chaos I've created, because I've gotten to the point where I'm spending more time looking for things (and tripping over them) than I am on the project

My wife is very tidy in the home but totally untidy in the garage and her store room. anything she does not like in the house she goes and put in here store room, not properly but she open the door and put it on the floor. eventually if she cannot open the door she put it close to the door in the garage.

I am 50/50, some of the tools I keep in funny but constant places (the keys for the drill, spanner for the angle grinder i store on top of the switch box. where I can find it in the dark and nobody else will get it there) with some of the tools I am not so systematic and sometime rather buy a new one instead of wasting time to find it - I now have about 3 rivet guns.

The other problem is a collecting streak. Old computers and peripherals. pieces of material (offcuts) and scrap. even parts of printers and stepper motors My motto seems to be you may need something you have thrown away recently. The real problem is space and you have to start stacking.

Hendrick

There is a physical law that states the the sooner you discard an item of no immediate or apparent value the sooner you will need it.

Secondly.......you have opened a whole new dimension to this conversation by mention of your wife's habits. You are indeed a brave soul and I will not follow in your footsteps my friend.

Incerdilbly cahoitc!!

Punctuated by fits of organization and tidying up.

Lol.... nice

"Incerdilbly cahoitc!!"

Is that like "incredibly chaotic", or "increduously Quixotic"? Maybe your typing reflects your work habits. Or maybe you're like me, with dyslexic fingers.

My desk is more organized since I got this desktop computer and CRT monitor. Actually I should say my new desk is more organized than my old one. But it still attracts clutter like the old one.

I used to joke about cleaning up my room. I'd say I know I need to do it, but bulldozers are too expensive and dynamite is too loud.

"Incerdilbly cahoitc!!"

It's actually an incredibly chaotic spelling of incredibly chaotic. Although my fingers nac eb cixelsyd, they are rarely that dyslexic. And there is, of course, the spell chequer, which helps me avoid reel mistakes.

I'm generally tidy as long as I've got places to put things. When I got promoted, I moved into my new office, with one shelf, filing cabinet and desk plus my chair.

Then I started having visitors so I needed a chair for the office. My files started to grow, so I needed an extra shelf. Due to demands that I keep myself updated with what's going on in the process lines, I put in another PC just for monitoring. Finally, my request for a storage space for project materials was disapproved so now, my office serves this purpose also.

It's a challenge to keep things spic and span. As others have said, as long as it's my office and I'm the only one using it, I can find things pretty quickly.

It's different at home. My things have their own place. If someone touches them, I'm as lost as anyone.

Back when I was a bachelor, I kept my room clean and tidy but never rearranged anything. One day my sister decided to do me a favor and redecorated the room. I was miserable for several days.

I'm a Legend for my mess, but it is organized geologically- by strata. I have a faster document retrieval time than all the neat freaks i have ever worked with. Creatives and multitaskers by definition are not orderly.

But in my shop, I ask one question: Why is this here? and several corrollaries: will I use it this minute? This hour ? This shift? Why is this here.

The nicest description I ever overheard was "He's not traditionally organized."

But when they need an answer, it always me that has it for them.

Great question del.

milo

Its not for me to change you. The question is how can I be of service to you without reducing your degrees of freedom?- r. buckminster fuller

Cheers ..great answer....I love the . "He's not traditionally organized."

I'm a Legend for my mess, but it is organized geologically- by strata. I have a faster document retrieval time than all the neat freaks i have ever worked with. Creatives and multitaskers by definition are not orderly.

You could be describing me - my desk & shop are chaotic to the ordinary eye, but I can find anything that I want, IF the last person who touched it was me* . . . and I've done it so many times that most of my bosses have given up on trying to change me, once they find out how quickly I can locate an item. (*I have a friend who can come into my barn or workshop and find anything he needs, apparently because he can think in much the same fashion regarding "Where should this be put?" type questions. And I can still find things after he's been there, no sweat.)

"Where should this be put?"

On the floor, so it can't fall off....

Works for me!

Exactly right!

milo

Everything around my desk is organised to perfection. It's a model of efficient organization. For reasons that I fail to understand, everybody else refers to it as 'a chaotic mess'.

I tend to have a semi-cluttered desk (or work surface), but when it comes to anything I've read or filed away, I will remember it and can generally go right to it. This is no mean trick, since I maintain a technical library on the subject areas I have worked on over the years. In many cases, I read and copy any pertinent information on those subject areas, so this library is larger than those maintained by most small companies.

As a machinist, and 20 years of mechanical inspection and testing and calibration.

Desk top a bit cluttered. Tools are where they belong. Nothing grinds my gears more than huntin sumpin down!

Now that is a goooood compromise!

The documentation you need is over on my bench... 3rd pile from the left... about 20 sheets down.

I do quite well in this sort of chaos so long as no one moves anything. I would rather spend my time doing useful work than cleaning house.

A place for everything, and everything in it's place... only problem is that I only have a finite number of places, so I develop my creative organizational skills.

Sincerely

Bill