I have been seeing more and more information on how bigger screens increase productivity of software developers (or professional computer users in general). The latest entry is by Martin Fowler in “How do you improve the productivity of software developers?”:
I used to raise eyebrows fifteen years ago by recommending that every developer should work on a 21 inch screen. These days I say that everyone should have at least two 20 inch screens.
Together with previous research and the coninuing price drop of large monitors it should be fairly obvious that the small investment on two monitors per developer is money well spent. Oh, and you should probably make sure your computer is capable of driving two high-res monitors. Maybe it is time to upgrade one of those shiny MacBook Pros?
Here are some links to help you write that procurement request to your manager:
- Martin Fowler: How do you improve the productivity of software developers?
- New York Times: Meet the Life Hackers, especially the part about interruption researcher Mary Czerwinski
- Jacob Nielsen: Productivity and Screen Size