To quote one of my favorite co-workers, “It is impossible to focus on more than one thing at a time.” I agree with him; it is absolutely impossible to give your full attention to more than one thing. Regardless of that fact, he and I are polar opposites in how we handle that simple fact.
Upon reading the title of this article, I am sure his immediate thought and suggestion to me would be, “Nick, if you want to make more desk space, sweep everything onto the floor.” In the professional world however, I would recommend not following that mentality, as it usually leads to reprimands and other more serious consequences.
Standing in Line
In elementary school, I absolutely hated going to lunch. The cafeteria was a long walk from first grade (the closest rooms to the cafeteria). I had to carry a lunch card to get food and I often forgot it. The carpet was gray with stains from other kids dropping their food, and I walked behind the mean girl who liked to make fun of me. This, of course, brings me to the part I hate the most: walking in a line. We went alphabetically, so I never went first and I never went last, I stood somewhere in the middle and dealt with the mean girl.
This sticks with me as I work in IT because I don’t ever want my clients to feel like they need to wait in line to reach me. My team is trained to handle all sorts of issues with technology, and I work to present a united front to my clients so that they always feel like they are cared for immediately. My team and my co-workers often make fun of me for my desk. I have SIX monitors sitting on my desk, three on top of three. This means I need a computer than can handle graphics, yet stays in an acceptable price range while giving me speed.
One Way to Free Up Desk Space: Smaller Computers
Six months ago, I had the privilege of testing a newly designed Intel Nuc, their new mini PC. I was able to deploy it as a device for a client as part of a security assessment. Not only did the client not realize what the device was, their network administrator had a hard time trying to find it even though I told him where it was. To put it simply, the device is tiny, and it still has scalable abilities as technology continues to improve. After finishing up the engagement, I decided to try the device as a desktop.
As I like to have six monitors going at all times so that I can keep my clients from standing in line, one window behind the other, there isn’t any freezing or hesitancy in the performance. The hard drive, the i5 processor, and 16 GB RAM all hold up, and I like to open a lot of programs. This computer has better performance than my old desktop, keeps up with my laptop, and no one knows where it is on the desk because it’s behind a monitor. I have my phone closer so I can talk comfortably, and I feel efficient with more space on the desk.
Get Help With All Your Technology
Integris likes to do research on different pieces of technology so that we can answer questions and help our clients navigate an enormous field of options for their businesses. We also like to make sure that our clients don’t have to wait in line while we scramble to figure out what is best. Finally, we don’t make recommendations for things we don’t try out and use for ourselves. If you’re having problems with crowded desk space or need a recommendation for a new upgrade on a computer, we have some options we’ve already tried out that would be good for business.
