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Plugging Time Leaks
Stackers, Stuffers, Spreaders, Slingers, and Sorters
Five “species” of desk users occupy the offices of America,
according to Professor Emeritus Ross Van Ness of Ball State 121
University. Which one are you?
1. Stackers. You create organized piles of everything. Each
project or category occupies a discrete section of your
work surface. Files probably also line your workspace
walls. Hopefully, none of your stacks resembles a tower,
an art object, or a piece of furniture.
2. Stuffers. You shove unsorted papers into drawers and file
slots. Your middle top desk drawer—if you have one—is a
repository of paperclips, teabags, business cards, pencils
with broken tips, pens without ink, decomposing rubber
bands, McDonald’s napkins, your five-year-old expired ID
card, and a 19-cent stamp.
3. Spreaders. Your desktop is coated with seemingly undif-
ferentiated layers of documents. With time, the area may
resemble an archaeological dig.
4. Slingers. You’re contemptuous of desks and their limita-
tions. You sling your stuff everywhere—onto chairs, coun-
tertops, and, when there’s a lot going on, the floor. Your
guiding question: “Where is there space where I can hurl
something?”
5. Sorters. You carefully categorize and subcategorize items,
then file them away where they belong. You may get so
carried away with this process that your desktop is one
great, empty rectangle.

Do you expect the sorters to be the heroes of this time man-
agement tale? Not necessarily. Sorters have a better chance of
finding things quickly, but surprisingly, many spreaders can
reach into their desktop heaps and pull out just the right docu-
ment. Stackers, too, seem to know what’s at each level of each
of their piles. They often use color-coded folders to aid the
process. Stuffers can reach right into the correct drawer and
within seconds find the object they’re looking for. Even slingers