Declutter Your Office by Updating Your Personal Tech

Ah, spring: a time of renewal, shaking off winter's cobwebs and getting your house--and office--in order. It's time for a going-over of not only the supply closet and file cabinet but of desktops (physical and virtual), office systems and technology. That means ditching the dust-collecting file racks, jettisoning obsolete hardware and sending cubicle-side sentimental keepsakes back home where they belong.

"Things go in waves with office design, and it definitely feels like things are moving toward a less cluttered office approach," says Stephen Searer, founder of OfficeSnapshots.com, an online reference of office design. He credits today's collaborative office model with changing the way employees adorn their spaces, especially if they don't occupy them all the time. "In a nonterritorial office, you don't have the same level of ownership where you might have [once] put up your family photos or decorated," he says.