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Impact of Random Desktop Icons on Productivity

This paper investigates the impact of randomly rearranging desktop icons on creativity and productivity. The study found that while participants spent an additional 12 minutes daily searching for applications, there was no improvement in creativity, and participants reported increased frustration. The conclusion drawn is that randomizing desktop icons is counterproductive and should not be implemented as a workplace strategy.

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muditkumarsingh25february2004
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26 views1 page

Impact of Random Desktop Icons on Productivity

This paper investigates the impact of randomly rearranging desktop icons on creativity and productivity. The study found that while participants spent an additional 12 minutes daily searching for applications, there was no improvement in creativity, and participants reported increased frustration. The conclusion drawn is that randomizing desktop icons is counterproductive and should not be implemented as a workplace strategy.

Uploaded by

muditkumarsingh25february2004
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

5.

Evaluating the Productivity Impact of Randomly Rearranging Desktop Icons

Abstract—
This paper examines whether randomly reordering computer desktop icons enhances creativity.
While participants took longer to locate applications, no measurable improvement in innovation
was observed, contradicting the chaos-creativity hypothesis.

Keywords— Desktop design, user productivity, creativity

I. Introduction
User interface design signi cantly affects work ow ef ciency. However, some argue that chaos
fosters creativity. To test this, we forcibly randomized desktop icons for a set of users.

II. Methodology
Ten participants were assigned randomized desktop layouts for 30 days. Productivity (task
completion time) and creativity (measured via idea-generation tasks) were evaluated.

III. Results

Time wasted searching icons: +12 minutes daily

Creativity scores: unchanged across all participants

Increased frustration reported qualitatively

IV. Discussion
The hypothesis that disorder stimulates creative thinking was unsupported. Instead, participants
exhibited stress and reduced job satisfaction.

V. Conclusion
Randomizing desktop icons is counterproductive and should not be adopted as a workplace
innovation strategy.

References
[1] Li, S., “User Interface Psychology,” Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, vol. 14, no. 3, pp.
201-209, 2020.
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