Your desk is not a mess it's a playground

Software engineers' work desks used to be interesting and fun. They looked like chaos at a first glance, but if you look closer you could see some patterns in the chaos, some glimpses of a person who sits there day after day banging their head against the keyboard.

Then minimalism came and ruined everything. Everything became dull, pastel color or even monochrome (thanks, Steve!). Almost nothing was allowed to stay on the desk: the computer, the screen, the mouse, the keyboard. Maybe an extremely boring coffee cup. Everything got spotless.

As a software engineer you are allowed to be creative. And to be creative you need to let your mind play. And to play you need a playground. So, down with the minimalism at your desk.

Let your desk get messy and covered with the things you like, or just need, or think you might need. Let there be stains from cups and plates. Let there be figures of super heroes and imaginary friends. Let there be plants and books. Let there be obscenities and vulgarities. Let there be countless scraps of paper with secret messages that even you don't understand anymore. Let there be a fun little chaos.