Terms Governing Desk Clearing Precondition
The complete terms under which a workspace must be considered clean before any work performed on it can be considered legitimate.
Terms and Conditions Governing Desk Clearing Precondition
Effective: Upon any occasion when work is planned but not yet begun Jurisdiction: Personal workspaces, kitchen tables repurposed as workspaces, any surface the subject has decided is temporarily a desk
Article I. The Precondition
Before work may begin, the workspace must be cleared. "Cleared" is defined as the state in which the subject feels that starting is now permissible. This state cannot be defined in advance and must be assessed in real time at the moment when clearing would otherwise be complete.
The workspace need not be empty. It must be correct. The difference between empty and correct is determined solely by the subject and cannot be reviewed.
Article II. Scope of Clearing Activity
Desk clearing precondition encompasses, but is not limited to: the relocation of items that were already in acceptable positions, the removal of cups that could have remained, the adjustment of items that are now in worse positions than before clearing began, and the discovery of a second area that requires clearing before the first area can be considered cleared.
Time spent on clearing is not deducted from available work time. Available work time ends when clearing is complete and the subject is therefore no longer in a state of sufficient readiness to begin.
Article III. The Readiness Assessment
Upon completing the clearing sequence, the subject must assess whether the cleared workspace is now suitable. Common findings during the readiness assessment include: the lighting is insufficient, a background item remains distracting, the chair height requires adjustment, and water should have been retrieved before clearing began because retrieving it now would reset the readiness state.
Article IV. Override Conditions
Desk clearing precondition may be waived in conditions of extreme urgency. In practice, the urgency threshold required to waive clearing is slightly higher than any urgency the subject has encountered during the period under review. The waiver option exists. It has not been exercised.
Article V. Liability
Any work produced on an uncleared desk was produced under conditions the subject found inadequate. The work cannot be relied upon as a representation of the subject's actual capabilities. Work produced on a cleared desk that was subsequently re-cluttered shares the same limitation.
The subject accepts these terms by sitting down.