Sunny and Clean Desk Setup in New York City

Name: Adeet Deshmukh

Location: New York City

Occupation: Product Owner

Social media: Instagram

Hello! Tell us a bit about yourself

Hey everyone!

My name is Adeet Deshmukh, and I’m a New York City-based Product Owner who works in the educational technology space for a great company here in New York City.

I build digital products that help school kids learn to read and write.

It’s an awesome job that I’m pretty passionate about.

I went to school for photojournalism and, until recently, developed my career working as a photography editor.

When I’m not working, I’m busy honing my culinary chops as an amateur chef, riding my Brompton all over New York City, playing video games, travelling, and spending time with friends and family.

My recent career pivot hasn’t blunted my passion for photography in the least, so I’m still shooting constantly and posting regularly to my Instagram at @Adeet77.

Ever since I was a child, I’ve been obsessed with minimalism, neatness, colour coordination, aesthetics, design, and organisation.

In grade school and middle school, I’d stay after the bell to clean and organise my desk, sharpen all my pencils to a fine point, and make sure everything was just right for the next day.

As the years passed, these traits just got more intense and helped me excel in college and all throughout my professional life.

That being said, I know that I drove my previous significant others crazy sometimes. And I realise my wife and daughter get annoyed by my need to have things so exact all the time (especially since we share a NYC apartment). C’est la vie!

I’m a big fan of Scandinavian and Japanese design/visual aesthetics — the use of natural materials, subtlety, lots of clean lines, light colours, openness, simplicity, and functionality.

Less is more is my mantra in work, life, and in almost everything that I do.

As the world shifted to remote work and I transitioned into my new career as a Product Owner, I knew that I needed to carve out a dedicated space in our apartment where I could work in peace and productivity.

It took weeks of product research, meticulous design, sketching, and planning, but I’m really happy with my setup.

Pencils down (at least for now).

Take us through your setup

The key features of my workspace are openness, a perfect blend of natural materials and technology, and unique accents.

It took me two months to plan, find, and source the pieces for my workspace, and arrange them all in the state you see now.

It was definitely a labour of love.

My workspace is located at the far west end of our living/main room, by the windows that let in lots of sunlight and fresh air.

On clear evenings, the sunsets are beautiful.

The only thing that I’d like to improve is the backlighting behind the monitor, to reduce eye strain when I’m working late.

Eventually, I’d like to upgrade my monitor to a 4K display and get a Tidbyt.

What’s your favourite item on your desk?

I absolutely love my NuPhy Air75 mechanical keyboard.

I think it might be my favourite item on my desk.

I grew up on old IBM PCs with large, spring-loaded keyboards and learned to type via their tactile feel and feedback.

I’m a sensory person, so a tactile typing experience is important to me.

My Apple keyboard was effective but gave me little or no satisfaction when typing on it.

After doing some research and watching YouTube videos of different keyboards, I settled on the NuPhy Air75.

I love the way the keyboard feels, sounds, and how gratifying it is to type/work on it.

I also love the colour, wireless connectivity, and how it looks on my desk.

I bought the keyboard straight from NuPhy, along with a set of Gateron Low-profile 2.0 Blue Switches for that really delicious clicky sound.

What apps or tools do you use to get things done?

I can’t accomplish 90% of my job as a Product Owner without Jira.

I love its powerful set of features, almost limitless customisation options, and clean interface.

I use Jira to track my various digital products as they make their way through development, testing, and deployment.

I also use Jira to assign tasks to my development, design, and editorial teams via “tickets”.

The fact that Jira is web-based makes it easy to access anywhere I have a stable Internet connection.

And Jira’s iOS and iPadOS app is pretty great too.

Spotify is another piece of software that I can’t live or work without.

My music obsession runs deep, and ever since I was a kid, I’ve listened to music while getting things done — from chores to homework, and so on.

This has carried over into my professional life, and I can’t work without Spotify cranking out music that I love throughout the day.

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What books, blogs, or podcasts recently caught your attention?

I regularly listen to 185 Miles South, a podcast about punk and hardcore music.

I grew up listening to hardcore, and it’s still a big part of my life.

Any tips for other makers who want to improve their workspaces?

Make your home office a space that brings you peace and allows you to be productive throughout the day.

Take your time to make it a place you love to be in, and make it a reflection of who you are and what you stand for.

What does your typical day look like?

I live and work in Manhattan.

I have a beautiful office in the Financial District (FiDi) with a view of the New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty.

I go into the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The rest of the week, I work from home with my two cats, MiuMiu and Kafka.

Office days

I’m usually up at 7:20 am.

I go to Outlook first to check my work email before opening up Google News to skim the headlines as I prepare my morning coffee. After a double espresso, I get ready for work and leave my place around 8 am.

It takes me about 50 minutes to get to the office, which includes a stop at my smoothie guy on Broadway and Wall Street where I get a freshly made fruit and veggie smoothie to start off my day.

My job as a Product Owner is very intense and complex, making for hectic days juggling multiple projects, tasks, teams, and meetings.

I love what I do and I love the fact that each day is different. When I’m in the office, I usually spend 40% of the day at my desk and the rest of the time in meetings, etc.

I step out to lunch around 12:30 and then for a coffee at Blue Bottle Coffee around 4 pm.

Depending on my workload, I leave between 5:30 - 6:30, usually stopping at Whole Foods to get groceries for dinner.

After getting home, I usually start meal prep right away since it’s a great way for me to unwind after work.

After dinner, I clean and reset my kitchen before spending the rest of the evening reading, playing video games, or watching television.

I’m usually up until at least midnight before heading to bed.

Work from home days

I’m usually up around 8 am.

Almost always, I open Outlook first to check my work email before opening up Google News to skim the headlines as I prepare my espresso.

After a double espresso, I get ready for work, feed the kitties, and then log on around 9 am to answer emails that came in from my overseas teams before my daily 9:30 standup.

Focus is an issue when working from home, so I make it a point to shower and get ready in the AM, and that sets me up for a productive day.

If I ever find myself losing focus, I’ll take my iPad Pro and head to a local coffee shop to work from there.

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I have lunch around 1 pm, make masala chai around 4 pm, and usually sign off around 6 or 7 pm.

I usually start meal prep right away since it’s a great way for me to unwind after work.

When working from a home office, I also typically stay up until midnight before I head off to bed.

I’ve been working from home since 2021 and have moved to a hybrid model since the start of 2023.

Your tips for working from home?

Ritual and routine are important to stay focused.

Take the time to make a coffee, tea, work out, or do whatever you need to do to clear your mind before you start work.

Do that every morning.

I love writing out my tasks instead of typing them, and I love crossing them out when I’m done.

It helps me focus on what’s at hand and is immensely satisfying.

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