Do Developers Really Need A Second Monitor?: Page 2

I also found Jeff Atwood, a developer who created his own “Developer Bill of Rights ” and guess what was number one?

Yep – “Every Developer Shall Have Two Monitors.”

Although it seems to me that “Two” will have to be updated to “Multiple” based on all the comments from developers I have read online. Now that monitors are so thin that desk space isn’t a challenge, you can even mount them on your cubicle wall and make your developer workspace look like NASA’s Mission Control.

Finally, I came across Patrick Dubroy’s article that asked Multiple-Monitor Productivity: Fact or Fiction? And have to agree with his conclusion that the productivity boost is real, but in an average developer’s day a few percentage increase is more likely than a true 30% boost.

The next week I met up with Dave again for lunch. (Why he even goes out for lunch when he can eat for free at work is a question for another time. )

I started in with a smile and said “Has your coding ability been severely handicapped by having just one monitor.”

“Laugh all you want, but you’ll never believe what I’m about to tell you.”

“I’m all ears,” I said.

Now Dave was smiling back at me. “When I walked into my cubicle yesterday, there was a brand new 22-inch monitor sitting on my desk.”

“You’re kidding! Your manager got it back for you?” I asked.

“Nope, even better. He bought me a new monitor with his own money. Said it was on loan until next year’s budget was approved. How cool is that?!”

“That is one cool spineless manager you have there, Dave.”

“Yeah, yeah, so maybe he isn’t spineless. Tomorrow I’ll give him a chance to prove it. I’m going to ask him to include a third monitor in the budget. Think he’ll go for that?”

I’d say that Dave shouldn’t be looking a gift horse in the mouth.

ALSO SEE: That Developer's Salary is Bigger than Mine!

AND: What Makes A Smart Developer? (Is it Google?)