It is well known that Adam Savage puts a lot of thought and time into his workshop organization. He does a lot of very different types of making in a very small, crowded space, so that means needing to organize effectively to make best use the space. Recently, he’s done a number of videos discussing workplace organization, tool mobility, safety, and first-aid.

In this video, he talks about the anchor points of a shop (the machines and workstations that the rest of the shop orbits around), the fact that you can never have enough casters on shop components (and on-hand), and other useful tidbits.

For me, the most important bit o’ wisdom in this chat is how he keeps his shop cleaned and organized as he works. As he puts it, it’s “work, work, work, put-away, put-away, put-away.” By taking periodic breaks and cleaning up as you go, you don’t end up with an insurmountable mess when you’re done. I have never done this in my life, but I plan to start. I might start setting a timer, for say, an hour, to remind me to switch to cleaning mode, as I might be prone to forgetting.

Adam also talked in one of his old organization videos about “giving a gift to your future self” by doing a thorough cleaning and organizing after a project so that future you is ready to roll when you start the next project. Wise words.