My picturesque desk, featuring Jeetu Patel, EVP and GM at Cisco

Here at HR Brew, we’re interested in learning more about how people work, and how the way they work is changing. With that in mind, we’re asking professionals to tell us about their desk setups.

What are you proud of in your workspace? Do you keep momentos with you while you work? What’s your emotional support animal/plant/action figure? If you want to show us your desk, you can submit your story here!

Everything about Jeetu Patel’s Bay Area home office screams “product manager.” With three monitors, a backdrop curated for video meetings, and just the right amount of diffused essential oils, Cisco’s head of security and collaboration takes the same attitude to his office space that he does for a product launch.

Patel manages teams that make products that help companies adapt to hybrid or remote work, like the video-conferencing platform Webex. In a call with HR Brew demonstrating the software’s ability to eliminate background noise, Patel shared that he keeps a massage gun at his desk. This prompted us to ask more.

Patel said he went through approximately 37 iterations of his office setup, tinkering with the whiteboard, its placement, and the color and the materials it’s made from. The cabinetry, wall art, chairs, and even the aroma in the room were all thoroughly tested and vetted by Patel.

As a tenured tech executive, he realizes that not everyone has the ability to explore the options that he did with as much space and technology as he has. “I want to make sure that I acknowledge that not everyone has the luxury of having a great, dedicated office,” Patel said.

Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Can you describe your work setup for us?

I try to make my work setup designed to optimize for me as well as the person joining me [on a video call] from the far end. It’s about being minimalist, clutter-free, and [having] every object intentionally picked to flow together.

How do you come across professionally? How do you become more productive? And is the space itself aesthetically appealing to you so that you can stay there for 10–12 hours a day? When I think about all of that, that’s what I designed this space for.

I want to make sure that the people that I’m with see a space that actually makes it visually appealing for them, not just to me…For example, the thing that you see in the back, that piece of art, that’s actually a TV.

What is your favorite part about your setup?

I have a lot of screen space and can sit or stand. Plus, when I want to read a physical document, I can turn around to a different space. I have a separate seating space to relax or watch TV or the news.

[Across four different screens], I have my Webex messaging that’s going on at the same time, I have my email, I have a browser, I’m looking at you, and then I have my calendar on the right-hand side. So, I know exactly when my meeting ends. I know if [a colleague] wants to tell me, “Hey, Jeetu, you’re rambling too much.”

What is your least favorite part about your setup?

There’s not a medium better than paper to consume content, but it creates clutter. Any paper on my desk gets me annoyed.

The other thing I don’t like is wires showing. On this desk, you see no wires. That’s because all the wires go from underneath the ground in this bowl that is at the foot of the desk, and through the desk, so you don’t see any wires anywhere.

What is the most functional choice you made with your setup?

Having a very large desk with three big monitors and a tablet. I’ve got three screens in front of me, and then I have my iPad as a fourth screen…that gives you plenty of screen real estate to go out and do things.

Make sure that your standalone video device, if you have one, also acts and couples as a monitor, so that you have a second monitor that you can use.

Number three, a great headset that cancels the noise.

What is one accessory you think every desk should have?

Good lighting and scent—it creates mood.

I have just the right amount—not overbearing, but not too little—just the right amount of fragrance in the room that makes it like a very pleasantly smelling room the moment you come in.

I don’t like eating in my place for too long. But sometimes I have to [work] through lunch [so]when I bring my lunch over here, I try to get the lunch out of my room as fast as possible, so it doesn’t smell up my room…I just did that yesterday, like I had the soup and I put some Tabasco sauce in there. And then I had to get it out of my office right away and then turn on [my] Aroma360, which is this great machine that diffuses essential oils…in the air…and then I have an air purifier.

Any final recommendations?

One of the things I recommend is to reduce the amount of clutter around you when you’re working, because that actually gets you in a calmer space where you can actually talk to someone and be more present.