How to improve productivity @ work

I’ve recently been thinking about how different users utilise a multiple monitor setup at home or in the office. A mulitiple monitor setup will, in many cases, help improve productivity, by making you spend less time in context switching when looking up information. However, it seems some users struggle with distractions. [nytimes]

Developers seem to unite on documentation on a secondary screen and code on primary. I can recommend looking at some Stackexchange threads on this.  Here’s two threads on how to utilise a multiple screen setup: Thread 1 and Thread 2.

Personally, I can’t manage without lots of screen “real estate” while working. For less important stuff, a 15″ laptop screen will do (hey, I sometime use my phone). What I have not tried is one huge screen instead of 2×24″. Some vendors produce large super-wide curved screens. Might give it a try sometime. Just make sure not to have lots of distractions (non-necessary webpages, apps, etc) to avoid falling in the pits described in the nytimes article.

Ps. I would also recommend reading up on how you sit in front of your desktop and how you place those monitors. It’s not easy to work when your back and neck hurts.

One thought on “How to improve productivity @ work

  1. I used an ultra-wide screen when working for a customer in 2013-14, and it was a very pleasant experience. It was not curved though, which I sometimes wished it was. I have had my eye on the LG 29UM68P for a while, which has a nice IPS panel, but I have also thought of buying a ~40″ 4K TV and use it as a regular monitor, which provides a huge amount of screen real estate! (Too much maybe?)

    Anyway, the biggest problem for productivity is not the size of the screen(s), but the many distractions, which is an ongoing struggle to manage and keep in check. I found the online course “Learning How to Learn” from University of California quite helpful in that regard, 10/10, would recommended.

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