I must say that even in that short amount of time I am getting a sense that this is something that really does increase my daily productivity.  I had read a study by Microsoft Research that found productivity increases of between 9% and 50% had been seen doing typical daily computer tasks.  I can’t put an exact number on it myself but the first big benefit I find is being able to keep two full-screen applications open at once for easy multi-tasking, such as working in OneNote or Microsoft Project for project planning while still keeping an eye on my Outlook (you have to be careful about this because checking your email can be a HUGE time sink if you are not careful – more about that in a future post).  The second area this helps in is when I am programming (I definately have to shut Outlook down for that).   I actually stretch my development program (Microsoft Visual Studio 2008) across both monitors and that allows me to open up all the toolbars and explorers I need to use and still easily see all the code without having to scroll back and forth.  It’s great.  

So, in summary, if you spend a significant portion of your day sitting in front of a computer like I do (even if it isn’t programming), I would highly recommend you invest the money (and LCD monitors are really dropping in price these days) to set yourself up with two identical monitors and set your Operating System to stretch your desktop across both of them.  

If you are doing this and have any suggestions or stories about how this is helping (or not helping) you work, post them in the comments.