What Goes on at Work Stays at Work

Elyse Sanchez, Thursday, October 4, 2007 @ 1:38 pm

On a discussion thread to which I subscribe, a friendly
debate about whether we prefer the term “Information Architect” or “User
Experience Architect” as a job title took an interesting—but by no means unrelated—turn
towards the subject of drinking wine. This prompted a post by IA Donna Maurer, who
offered one of her blog entries describing the detailed taxonomy of her wine
rack. In her explanation, she states that “I thought I should show just one
aspect of my obsession with organizing stuff. People always laugh at me when I
tell them about this. Not sure why – after all, I do organise messy content for
a living.”

Aside from this offhand explanation, the rest of the blog
entry concentrates (justifiably) on the wine rack. But the comparison stuck
with me, because, as anyone who knows me can attest, I definitely do not bring
my work methodology home (or even to my workspace). I exist in spaces of
comfortable, low-rise clutter: skewed drifts of piled papers, off-kilter stacks
of books. This comforts me, that is, until the time I need to buckle down to
some serious work. Then, I can tolerate nothing but sharp, clean and organized
masses of possessions. Then I really have to give in to the inevitable and get
the work done. I’m sure this avoidance is common to many of us; I actually find
Donna’s integration of life and vocation somewhat extraordinary. Leaving aside
personality or aptitude, how much of our own personal behavior influences our
work (or vice versa)? Is this a form of stereotypical profiling or an authentic fact of life? I'm not sure now if I should change jobs or just invest in a really good filing system.

user experience design

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