Clean Desk Policy, really necessary? How expensive is it?

In this post, I would like to put my point of view about the clean desk policy. 

I know that it is a new trend and, like any new trend, it seems to be good in all of its aspects, but I am not a big fan of it.

I will write my arguments which may seem weak or without basis to you. So it is only my opinion. And as an opinion, it could be wrong.

It is seen that the clean desk policy was born with the 5S. The 5S stands for:

Sort, Set, Shine, Standarize and Sustain. (1)

Basically, the purpose of this policy is to maintain a clean desk, make tools and documentation easy to find, and protect critical documentation.

And can these principles, which fit well in just-in-time manufacturing, also be applied effectively in software development?

In some way, when these principles were applied to software development, the first thing to do was: no one would have their own desk.

So if no one has his own desk, everyone will have to clean the desk before leaving.And with this action, one can almost fulfill the 5S. 

It is said that a clean desk promotes a professional image, protects critical documents, and encourages collaboration with other coworkers.

- professional image: I believe that a professional image must be primarily achieved through satisfying customers. But all employee can clean his own desk before leaving.

- protect critical documents: each employee should have desk drawers with locks to store critical documents.

- collaboration with other coworkers: I believe that one should be close to the coworkers with whom they need to communicate more often. If I work on system A, which communicates with system B, I would be very keen to sit near my coworkers who work on system B.

So, if professional image, document protection, and collaboration can be achieved without the "clean desk policy," why is it so popular?

I believe that it is mostly to save costs. It is more expensive to have 100 desks than 50, isn't it?. Companies have to look for ways to reduce costs. And I understand this and they should do it.

And one way of doing it is by implementing a "clean desk policy". We could call this "hot desking" (2). But..But what about the cost of implementing the 'clean desk' policy? How would it affect the process of software development? 

Do you think that the "clean desk" reduces the cost of the software development process? or does it increase? In my opinion, implementing a clean desk policy may increase costs, but further studies would be needed to confirm this.

When a person owns a desk, they will typically sit near other people with whom they talk more often. In other words, the people who make up a team will be sitting near each other. In this way, the information about the software development can be transmitted more easily. And here is where the key is. The better the information is transmitted among the team members, the lower the probability of misunderstandings, the better the understanding about the work, and the less time required to resolve problems. Saying that, it seems to me that information is the blood of software development. What would happen if our brain, our neurons worked with a 'clean desk policy'?. One group of cortex neurons in the foot and another group of cortex neurons in the hand. How efficient would their communication be?. Therefore, if each member of the team is placed in a random desk away from the rest of the team, how efficient would their communication be?. So, what would be the cost of having inefficient communication in a software project?. Hard to calculate but not cheap.

In the other hand, when you have your own desk, you can set it up in a way that makes you more productive.

In conclusion, I believe that if a software company wants to implement the clean desk policy, it should follow these points:

1. Assign clean desk zones divided by teams, so that each software team has their own designated clean desk zone. This way, only team members will be allowed to do "clean desking" in their designated zone.

2. Create the "clean desk zones" based on the communication patterns among teams. If Team A communicates frequently with Team B, we should create a "clean zone A" near "clean zone B"."

But I must say that I prefer each developer having their own desk.

felix.romo.sanchezseco@gmail.com

Refs:

(1): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5S_(methodology)

(2): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_racking