Dave's workplace

[Benno]

Hi Dave,

thanks for all your inspiring and learning video's. They are great.

But for weeks now I see video's where your desk is an extreme mess.

I know for techies like you and most of us a clean desk policy does not work, but hey your desk is even a bigger mess than mine. And everyone visiting already calls my desk a mess .............. Should show them yours .

[DavidDLC]

It could be also an accident waiting to happen !

David.

[Short Circuit]

Just make sure there is enough working boards between the mess (working as in powered on).
Simple blinky demo's on various boards will do. If the mess is alive, nobody dares calling it a mess,
and people actually seem to assume you're really some kind of genius.
Has worked for me for many years, and still does. 

[EEVblog]

Sorry, I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about, it look perfectly fine to me! 

Dave.

[GeoffS]

A tidy desk is a sign of someone with too much spare time on their hands.

[Bored@Work]

A tidy desk is a sign of a diseased mind.

A tidy floor, on the other hand, is a sign of someone who doesn't want to trip over in the dark when the circuit breaker once more ...

[robrenz]

On a serious note, I find a clean organized work area inspiring.  My work area usually degrades over time to a point where I cant stand it anymore and I stop and do a major cleanup.

[hans]

I've seen way way worse than Dave. Infact, I was intern at such a workshop. They developed special camera's there, where expensive/sensitive camera sensors where 'collecting dust' on part of the table, the part near laptop workplace/oscilloscope was crowded with papers, datasheets etc.
And even more fun: the soldering area was a small table of not even 2m long and 1m deep. A third was covered by soldering equipment. The rest were component bags.
Especially great was the way to sort passives; just throw the tape in a box and mark down what it was. Ah great, so if you need a 15k resistor you find tons and tons of resistors you don't need.
And then if you do find one, it was 0603 were you really need a 0402.
The only really clean part was were the anti-static mat was. That's the place were prototypes were tested and camera's assembled. But eventually..

Eventually 'the boss' complained and it was cleaned up. Only to be a mess 2 weeks after.

[free_electron]

If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, then what is an empty desk a sign off..

For technical people the floor is just another large shelf...

Clutter will accumulate until all usable shelving space is used.

[Simon]

On a serious note, I find a clean organized work area inspiring.  My work area usually degrades over time to a point where I cant stand it anymore and I stop and do a major cleanup.

That's my policy on my whole house 

[JuKu]

My work area usually degrades over time to a point where I cant stand it anymore and I stop and do a major cleanup.

+1. I have much patience.

[EEVblog]

For technical people the floor is just another large shelf...

For those who don't follow my tweets:



A few weeks back I tripped over a $140K oscilloscope, it wasn't pretty 

Dave.

[Simon]

For technical people the floor is just another large shelf...

For those who don't follow my tweets:
http://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net/photos/large/653462833.jpg
http://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net/photos/large/621278017.jpg

A few weeks back I tripped over a $140K oscilloscope, it wasn't pretty 

Dave.

links fail

[Alana]

I do clean up when i finish a project or a job, or in case of big projects - when my health hazard alarm starts ringing. And from what i see its like this for all people who manage to be creative, not only EE guys.

[M0BSW]

There are two types of Radio amateur Radio shacks  the first looks like the bridge of the star ship USS Enterprise,  2nd is the proper radio amateur shacks a total mess where wives are not allowed

[Simon]

When I was playing with electronics as a teenager my family knew well not to touch anything in my "lab" as they never knew what I was up to.

[Jimmy]

http://youtu.be/t513IZ5V9Nk

This was the office of a true Electronics Genius

[vk3yedotcom]

There are two types of Radio amateur Radio shacks  the first looks like the bridge of the star ship USS Enterprise,  2nd is the proper radio amateur shacks a total mess where wives are not allowed

I prefer the VK2XBR version of this quote, as immortalised on this ABC TV report



"there are two types of shacks: those that are an absolute pigsty and those where nothing happens"

[Bored@Work]

I recommend steam blasting. The shag and the guy.

[M0BSW]

 Got to agree with you , thank god we are not all like that, in comparison my shack is a palace. I have however seen hams at rallys that do look like that , and stink to high heaven, careful not to get to close  , there's always some in every hobby, and their the one's who are normally rich, unlike me

[PA4TIM]

http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/an-analog-life-remembering-jim-williams/
Also the desk of a great genius.
My workplace is a bigger mess as Dave's  ( and akso a bit more stuffed with gear)  so I think he has a very clean place 

[FenderBender]

I think Jim William's bench is somewhat beautiful in a way.

[SeanB]

And he knew what was where and how deep to look for it.

[T4P]

As was bob pease. Analog guru's know how to find their stuff in a big pile of mess  The same way they can really debug very quickly 

[vk3yedotcom]

It's a bit like how good shepherds recognise each of their flock when they all look the same to us.

If you have a box of assorted capacitors and rifle through it enough times you almost memorise the one you want (distinguishing features include case size and style, lead length and straightness, extent to which it's value has almost rubbed off, printed voltage rating etc.