One of the things that I've discovered about myself is that I have a sensitivity to my work environment. I find that I am most creative, and productive when I am in an aesthetically pleasing environment. This applies not only to my physical environment but also to my computing environment which is largely why I prefer to use OSX over other equally capable computing environments such as Linux.
A by product of this sensitivity is that I have a deep interest in the work environments of others as a means for further refining my own environment. I'm especially interested in the work spaces and habits of people that I admire.
In a general sense, I admire writers as I have a growing interest in doing more writing myself. So it was with pleasure that I came across whereiwrite.org, an effort to collect photographs of the work spaces of various science fiction and fantasy authors.
I also enjoy programming (which is really writing for machines instead of people) and therefore I am also drawn to images of aesthetically pleasing offices such as:
- 25 of the Best Home and Office Mac Setups
- Where I program
- BusinessWeek: Readers Show Off Their Home Offices
One of my greatest idols is the famous computer scientist Donald Knuth. As a result I enjoyed this picture of his home office from a Standford Alumni Magazine interview.
Unfortunately my current work environment is a standard corporate cube-farm. I often consider sending our facilities people a copy of the book PeopleWare but I suspect its suggestions would be deemed "cost inefficient". My home environment is still a work-in-progress and unfortunately I don't get to spend much time working in it. It's a life goal of mine to find a way to earn a living in an environment of my choosing. So far, I'm not banking on my blogging skills!
