organizing my office at work

17 years ago

I moved offices a little more than a month ago, in the middle of back-to-back deadlines.

I sort of set it up, then discovered a box of stuff that hadn't gotten moved, and also realized that bulletin boards, etc., aren't in the same space.

So, I'm going to try to apply my organizing skills here.

And, I'm going to start w/ listing "what things do I need place for?", helped by the frustratiosn of the last month, and not being able to put things in a good spot.

(I work as an associate managing editor of a magazine, and supervise copyeditors & fact-checkers, so that affects wha sort of stuff I have to handle)

*bluelines (oversize 11x17 proofs of the stories we've sent to the separator)

-those needing to be read

-those that have been read

(sometimes I can combine these; I'm thinking I'll ask folks to deliver these not to me but to my copyeditor; all I'd do is give them to her anyway; she can stash the unread ones, and bring them to me when they're read--in the old arrangement, everone desks were outside my office, and they could come in and get them--but eventually they didn't come get them anyway)

*bags of matchprints waiting for me to match them w/ bluelines

-I used my "in" box for this before; I might be able to again.

*in box Right now it's on the end of my long counter-like desk, and it may stay there, I think. Just need to keep it weeded out.

*dictionary

*Food Lovers Companion

*Chicago Manual of Style

*recent issues (I've changed, here--the over-desk shelves are really high, so I've emptied out my "tidy desk" vertical sorter thingie, and stashed the two most recent issues in there

*clipboard w/ current=issue paperwork (I can stick this in the "tidy desk" as well

*current projects --I'm going to stand a wire sorter (the kind approved by our office aesthetic, bcs my black one isn't officially approved, shhhh) way off the the right behind my light. It's a little far away, but we'll see how it goes. I might need to move it right next tot he computer screen, though that edes my phone even further.

I have food & dishes for lunch & bfast & snacks; I need to weed that down a bit, though it's already got a home (I have a lot of shelves in here!)

As I think of other stuff...

Comments (5)

marge727
17 years ago
There must be something in the autumn air--I spent last night reorganizing the law office.
Now I realize how lucky I am--its my office and nobody gets to venture an opinion about how anything looks. So maybe I should be more creative. I put my wire sorter on a credenza in back of me because nextto the computer didn't work out. The wire sorter turned into several and that works.
good luck.
marge
quiltglo
17 years ago
I dislike trying to organize an office space. My last office was probably 7 x 7 with an old desk which wasn't comfortable for working on the computer. One old 2-drawer file cabinet and a free standing bookshelf. No matter what I did, since the day was totally full of back to back meetings and running around, it was all I could do to stack each pile of paperwork so it wouldn't get mixed up with the other piles. I really needed a large table top where I could pile each student's paperwork until I could get it completed.

Paper reduction indeed!

Gloria
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mvastian
17 years ago
Talley Sue,

I just love that "tidy desk" thing... I've never seen anything similar here, so I've been using a magazine box with the short side facing out, but this vertical sorter would work so much better!

Maria
marge727
17 years ago
Are there any websites with ideas for better organizing your time and office at work? Fly lady works well for home. I can see where the shiny sink idea works at home and I suppose the clean desk theory would be a similar strategy at work. Baby steps don't always work in the workplace because you have major "gotta do it now" things that come up unexpectedly, especially in law offices. Any ideas anybody?
quiltglo
17 years ago
I'll look and see if I can find some type of guidelines, but I think it goes pretty well along the lines of Talley's sitting beside her bed and what does she do there. LOLLolL

List what you do.
How do you need to access the information.
Designated waiting places (for those constant interruptions)
Decisions made on those vertical or horizontal piling needs.

I like the idea of a clean desk being the shiny sink, but in reality it only meant I would have to tuck stuff away and haul it back out, which wasn't practical. My shiny sink was a clipboard. Pretty low tech, but very mobile and I didn't have to worry about it getting stolen. Each day before I left my office, I made sure I had a top ten list of what I needed to attack the next day. No matter what my desk looked like, I knew where to find that list and how to get focused.

Gloria