Monday July 30, 2007
Monday July 30, 2007
Nirvana is a Paperless Office
As Roumen reported, in NetBeans Is Moving!, NetBeans is moving. Or, in fact, has already moved, to the other end of town. In doing so, I have begun implementing my long cherished dream... a paperless office. Not only because you can't lose papers that you don't have, not only because cleanliness is next to godliness, not only because Al Gore would be proud of me, not only because of the ethical soundness of the principle, but because a workspace that is permanently denuded of chaos has a pleasing and soothing effect, conveying (at least the intention of) order and and simplicity:
Before I forget them, here are my personal tips and tricks for establishing and maintaining a paperless office:
- Don't move your stuff. When you move to a different office (as we have just done), grab the opportunity to not move all your stuff with you. Destroy it all. (Or cheat and take it home, creating a paperless office at the cost of a chaotic home environment.)
- Don't connect to the printer. Once you are in your fresh, new, pristine office: Don't set up a connection to the printer! If you can't print, you won't generate paper, will you?
- Avoid getting access to your drawers and cupboards. Notice the cupboards above my desk in the picture above? They were locked when I got here. I'm supposed to go somewhere and pick up the keys for these cupboards. My advice: Don't go and pick up those keys! If you can't put stuff in your cupboards, because they are locked, then useless stuff that you should just throw away (and that you probably won't have much of anyway since you can't print) won't collect in your cupboards or drawers (or other similar junk-collecting containers).
- Be ever watchful. Whenever you find yourself with something in your hand, ask yourself if you need it to be there and whether you can avoid taking it to your desk. If you can't avoid taking it to your desk (from which it will become increasingly difficult to remove, because the longer it is there, the greater the significance it will attain), put it in your bag, instead of on your desk. Okay, that's cheating, but you're more likely to empty your bag than clean your desk. Or maybe that's just me. (When placed on a solid surface, the weight of an object increases in proportion to the length of time it isn't moved. Based on empirical research, I have found this axiom to be unfailingly true.)
- Blog about your intention to maintain a paperless office. Once you've blogged about it, you can't go back. You've reached the point of no return. Paperless is what you said and paperless is what it will have to be for ever after. Chances are that you will get mocked by colleagues as soon as paper starts collecting on your desk, which is further incentive for maintaining paperlessness.
So, this is me, in my new home, i.e., the little corner of the Sun world that is my new paperless office:
And guess who the twists and turns of fate have conjured up as my new neighbor...
Jul 30 2007, 07:45:28 AM PDT Permalink
18 Comments
Trackback URL: http://blogs.sun.com/geertjan/entry/nirvana_is_a_paperless_office
Comments:
Will Roman follow your guidelines and set up a paperless office as well?? Good luck at your new place!
Posted by Sven Reimers on July 30, 2007 at 03:35 PM PDT #
That won't last ;-)
Posted by Martin on July 30, 2007 at 05:15 PM PDT #
i give it a month
Posted by Jonathan Fisher on July 31, 2007 at 01:44 AM PDT #
Oh ye of little faith! One month from today, I will take a picture of my desk [you'll have to trust that I won't cheat], without cleaning up beforehand. [But since there'll be nothing on my desk, I won't have to clean up anyway.] Then your eyes will be opened and you will have to reconsider your paperbound ways.
Posted by Geertjan on July 31, 2007 at 02:19 AM PDT #
Sven, no, I can't live without paper. Plus I will always have a great feeling of freedom, because I can use paper, while Geertjan next to me simply can't. So using paper in my office will become more enjoyable than ever, as I will see Geertjan suffer.
Posted by Roumen on July 31, 2007 at 03:12 AM PDT #
1.Nice place nice desk well done!
2.I think Roman will be even more motivated to create skunkworks spy paper planes flying over to your desk- sounds interesting
3. Paperless desk - nice idea - we have to wait how much realistic it is! We are supporting you though!
Posted by Paris Apostolopoulos on July 31, 2007 at 04:49 AM PDT #
Great idea! Why you hadn't post it before I moved to the new building? :( I already picked up the keys of the cupboards... No paperless office for me.
Congrats on the new office! Now, all you have to do is implement GTD that will keep your office in this shape forever.
Posted by Alex Kotchnev on July 31, 2007 at 06:42 AM PDT #
Congrats on the paperless office... you are not just a forward thinker but a forward implimenter!
I have to ask what are you going to do about you incoming postal mail? Here's a suggestion to help prove the nay sayers wrong.
Check out www.EarthClassMail.com for an online postal mail service. It’s the world’s first Green Solution that let's fully manage their postal mail online (view, recycle/shred, archive, forward ship) and they recycle 100% of your unwanted mail. Best part, it's really reasonably priced!
Posted by Anthony Slyter on July 31, 2007 at 04:58 PM PDT #
Nice idea ... But you'll need another hard drive to store all the (most of the time) useless electronic docs that you'll receive instead of papers ;)
I guess you just moved the mess : from papers on desktop to files in directories.
My dream is not a paperless office, it's a documentless job :)
Posted by 159.50.203.7 on August 01, 2007 at 05:15 AM PDT #
Payslip? one bit of paper i wouldnt be without
Posted by Dan Swain on August 01, 2007 at 07:25 AM PDT #
Thanks for the encouragement, Paris, Lukas, Anthony, 159.50.203.7, Dan, and Alex! My paperless life is definitely a good choice to have made. It doesn't solve all of life's problems, but the stacks of paper I used to have (and the eternally unchecked item on my mental checklist "Must go through paper sometime and do something with them") is now a thing of the past. It definitely frees up the mind and lets one focus on other [more meaningful] problems. Plus, the 'victory' of going through one's papers and sorting them out... how meaningless that sense of satisfaction now seems, comparable to the 'victory' one might feel after having raked leaves in a forest. Sure, your tiny patch of forest is now leaf free. But so what?! Firstly, your feeling of victory is meaningless, because leaves will continue falling as long as there are trees. Secondly, how is the world a better place because of your having raked leaves in a forest? In the same way -- next time you feel like you've achieved something when you sort out the paper on your desk -- think of me in my paperless office. Ha.
Posted by Geertjan on August 01, 2007 at 07:43 AM PDT #
Here is what popped into my head when i saw your desk:
1. You just got hired.
2. You are about to quit.
3. You must not be doing much cause you desk isn't messy.
:)
Now if your drink could just go canless ... .
Good luck in your endeavor!
Posted by Mark on August 01, 2007 at 10:07 AM PDT #
Good for you! Hope you can keep it.
Posted by Shane on August 01, 2007 at 12:00 PM PDT #
Unless SUN also gives you some tablet with a stylus, I don't see how you could use no paper at all.
Not to mention it's better for the eyesight to get away from the laptop once in a while (at least to scribble something on a piece of paper or on a whiteboard).
Posted by Emilian Bold on August 06, 2007 at 12:44 AM PDT #
Looks like it is about time for that 30 day update report.... :-)
Posted by Gregg Sporar on August 30, 2007 at 02:26 PM PDT #
Go here for update:
http://blogs.sun.com/geertjan/entry/paperless_office_one_month_later
Posted by Geertjan on September 04, 2007 at 09:25 AM PDT #
It has been proven that paperless system can be done. You just have to make sure you have the correct mindset.
Posted by John Byrne on October 16, 2007 at 07:32 PM PDT #
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