The desk doesn't need to be tidy

Sam Rivera · 2025-04-10

Clients apologize for their desk before I've even asked about it. The stack of half-filled notebooks, the sticky notes that don't mean anything anymore, the draft printed out and marked up in three different colors of pen.

None of that is the problem. A desk that looks like active work is happening on it is doing exactly what it's supposed to do. The tidy desk — the one kept clear for when you're "really ready to start" — is usually the one nothing gets written at.

Let the desk be evidence, not a waiting room.