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  • Being Wrong About My Laptop-Only Office

    By Joshua Kim June 28, 2010 9:11 pm EDT

    I'm in the middle of Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error, by Kathryn Schulz, so everything I write this week is going to be strongly influenced by this amazing book.

    The big message of Being Wrong, so far, is that we should embrace error. Embrace our own and other people's errors, as it is only through being wrong that we learn anything. Schultz laments that we all too often fail to utter the simple words, "I was wrong" -- almost always attaching a caveat or explanation. She thinks we'd all be better off, both as people and as a people, if we figured out how turn our inability to get it right into a virtue as opposed to a vice.

    Think you are good at admitting your errors? Fine. Tell us specifically the last time you were wrong about something? Or tell us the kind of thing you are often wrong about? It's actually pretty hard.

    So in the spirit of "Being Wrong," I want to share with you my idea for how I want to arrange my new office. This week I'm changing my physical location for a new gig at my college (more on that later), and I have this idea about how I want my new office to be set-up. Having read Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You, by Sam Gosling, I know all too well how one's office setup sends a message about the image of ourselves we wish to project.

    My Two Bad Office Set-Up Ideas:

    1. Radical Minimalism: I'm thinking that my office will only be me, my desk, my chair, a phone and my laptop. No pictures, no diplomas, no books, no whiteboards, no decorations, nada. The idea is that I'm unencumbered and unattached. An office set-up that encourages me to get out of my office. To go and have meetings at other people's offices. To walk to meet them, as opposed to anyone coming to me. To be totally laptop mobile so that wherever I am I have everything I'd need from my office to be productive.

    2. No Paper: I can hear you laughing. The paperless office is the biggest fiction since W.M.D. (which I also thought would be found… go figure). But maybe this is the time and maybe my office is the place. iPads and Kindle's read PDF's. I plan to have both. E-readers and e-ink... tablets… it just could work.

    My dad and my wife say this is a bad idea because an office needs to convey a sense of solidity, gravitas, and permanence. They say offices should be lived in and personalized, but never cluttered. I'm ready to try something different, but I know that my ideas for my new office are most likely wrong.

    Thoughts? If you could move offices and start from scratch (new office, new job), how would you arrange it?

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Comments on Being Wrong About My Laptop-Only Office

  • Learning the Lesson
  • Posted by Professor G on June 29, 2010 at 7:45am EDT

  • The culture of academia often makes it difficult to say "You know, it turns out I was wrong about that," but I still say it. I think the payoff is long-term rather than short-term -- my hope is that students remember me as someone who not only encouraged them to try new ideas, methods, etc. but did so myself and embraced being wrong as part of the learning process. My concern sometimes is that colleagues will think I'm a flake (after all, isn't our profession all about being right? ; ) ) or zero in on what they perceive as a weakness, but it's rare that those worries keep me from owning up.

    As for office decor, mine gives the appearance of being lived in because it *is* occupied for much of each week; I have a lengthy commute and believe that my office space should be as pleasant as possible for me and my students. They love the posters on the wall, the cartoons on the door, the shelves full of books (which they often borrow, btw) -- time & again they comment on how much they like the atmosphere. And that, I think, is a crucial part of learning too -- discussing ideas, searching for engaging books, figuring out how to re-organize a paper and the like *should* be positive experiences that make students want more. Do I admire the folks with the pristine desks and paperless offices? Sure. But that doesn't suit me or how I teach, and I'm fine with that.

  • a different approach to office decor
  • Posted by JoVE at http://jovanevery.ca on June 29, 2010 at 10:00am EDT

  • I agree with the approach to being wrong. And as teachers, it is worth thinking about how our grading systems encourage learning from mistakes or penalize students for taking risks. A topic for another post, perhaps.

    On office decor, I think you would come up with a very different set of ideas if you started from "what kind of space do I do my best work in" and "what inspires my best work" instead of "what kind of impression do I want to convey".

    Too often we are thinking about what others will think of us and end up with a space that doesn't work for us.

    An office is a working space. Some people work better in uncluttered, minimalist spaces. Others work better in spaces that feel homey, with personal touches like a rug and an inspiring painting or poster on the wall. What works for you?

  • Decor
  • Posted by Lex on June 29, 2010 at 10:45am EDT

  • Pretty much everything in my office was selected by my department's administrative assistant, who has excellent taste, which is good because I have none.

  • admitting you're wrong or...
  • Posted by Lynda on June 29, 2010 at 11:45am EDT

  • More important than admitting you're wrong is acknowledging that someone else is right. Also, it was a great relief to me when I figured out that I didn't have to be the smartest person in the room (especially since I usually wasn't). If your goal is to get things done, acknowledging the contributions of others builds harmony and moves things forward.

  • appreciation for book referenced, this article & the comments
  • Posted by Sloane Thompson , Director of Career Development at IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI on June 29, 2010 at 12:15pm EDT

  • I appreciate the candor and honesty of this article and the comments shared thus far, and also of the book references as these are not books I have not yet read, but hope to soon. Thanks very much!

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