Having two computer monitors really does work

Back in September I blogged about using two monitors to increase productivity at work. Seems like others are starting to catch on to this idea because just the other day, the New York Times ran a story about one reporter's switch to the two-monitor system. Farhad Manjoo wrote,

As every office worker knows, trying to get anything done on a computer that's connected to the Internet can be a test of wills. On my old desktop monitor -- at 19 inches square, it was the Honda Civic of displays -- the Web was a wormhole that routinely pulled me off track. I'd switch over to a browser window to look something up, but as soon as I did so all traces of my work would disappear from the screen and I'd forget about the task at hand. A half hour later, I'd wake up from a deep browsing trance, wondering how I ever got to, say, a page recounting the history of Adidas, or some other topic having nothing at all to do with my work.

A huge desktop didn't remove all distractions, but it blunted their force. Now I could keep my e-mail and the Web open on one screen while my Microsoft Word document ran on another. This kept me on task. Even if I did go off to the Web, my document was always visible, beckoning me to come back to work.

Having two monitors isn't just helpful for programmers (or CTO's like me), it's helpful for anyone who multitasks throughout the day (and really, who doesn't?). Manjoo brings up a good point about how useful two monitors can be for writers leaving their research and emails in one window, and then using another monitor for writing articles. The additional monitor serves as a physical reminder that duty calls--you can't "minimize" a 22-inch screen on your desktop, so there's nothing to do but pay attention to your work.