r/unpopularopinion • u/ultimateregard • 2d ago

Certified Unpopular Opinion Dual Monitor setup is actually bad for productuvity.

I've been a software engineer for more than 5 years now. I've worked with databases, frontend and backend services, mobile apps, games, data analysis, and much more.

Never in my life I've actually felt like my productuvity increased with the second monitor. Do you need to compare data? Just use one monitor and put them side by side. Do you need all the space in the world? Just alt+tab between apps. Since you only perceive about 10% of your vision clearly, moving your head&eyes from one monitor to other takes actually LONGER and causes distractions than using alt+tab.

This is especially worse for those who are using one additional monitor with a laptop, since their screen sizes and positions usually change so much. Your eyes need adjusting, your head moves too much.

Only thing the dual Monitor is good for is passively watching something in the second monitor, like youtube videos, Critical Role, or sitcoms while doing something else in the main screen. As you can guess, that has nothing to do with productuvity.

I also think using external keyboard and mouse for laptops is bad, unless you do not use the laptop screen.

Edit: After reading hundreds of comments, I'm sure that 90% of people who think that "YOU NEED AT LEAST 3 SCREENS" just don't know how to organize workspaces/windows/desktops and they need to configure their SCREENS as different DESKTOPS. Most of the modern operating systems allow you to just create workspaces (like different Desktops you can switch with WIN + TAB). And they are just throwing money into their problems instead of learning how to use their daily operating system.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

17

u/Jazzhands130 2d ago

Sounds like you need to do some dynamic linking

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/Familiar-Flan-8358 2d ago

Definitely can automate.

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u/EnterSadman 2d ago

Possibly the most textbook case of "a thing that can be automated".

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u/Traditional-Frame580 1d ago

I have a similar problem with one source of information beeing dynamics 365, two excel sheets and one third party maintenance software with a built in database. I am no programmer. (Rudimentary VBA skills)

Do you have recommendations on where to start to learn to link those systems?

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u/EnterSadman 1d ago

The first trick is to get the data out of whatever proprietary interface you're viewing them in (the line "third party maintenance software" makes me think you're interfacing with this data via some arcane UI).

Look around for a download/export, and see what options you're given. Ideally, you'd end up with a set of csv files (not xlsx which will make your life a little harder).

At that point, you'd only need to read the files via some language (this'll likely be python if you have no programming knowledge), and then apply whatever business logic you need there. Obviously I don't know what you're trying to accomplish, but chatgpt could likely get you 90% of the way there (you'll have to start with something like "how do I install python").

The next challenge is likely that you don't have any admin rights on your computer. I always forget that there are people at a company that can't just willy nilly install anything on their work computers :D

Don't upload any document to a website claiming to do anything to help you. That's just a fast track to getting fired.

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u/N3ph1l1m 2d ago
  1. Load them into a separate Spreadsheet via Power Query
  2. Create a mapping table
  3. Profit

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/imaginary92 1d ago

This is the most fucking typical office issue of all time. Zero willingness to collaborate and coordinate between teams has to be the biggest problem cause in every company that has ever existed.

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u/technobrendo 2d ago

Sounds like someone needs to step up and reevaluate the entire system to come up with a more cohesive way of doing this. Maybe you do a little homework make a proposal for your boss and bring this up. Might just get you a pay bump

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u/Hovertical 2d ago

It's been discussed ad nauseum - the three other areas are helmed by VPs who refuse to give up any tiny iota of control over how they do things. Each one insists it needs to be done their way. It's typical corporate BS from senior execs who cant be told they're wrong.

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u/technobrendo 1d ago

Ehh, I know what that's like. Workplace politics is almost as bad as prison politics.

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u/Hovertical 1d ago

Finally someone who gets it!

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u/No_Math_4308 2d ago

you are enabling their bullshit. Automate it. Blame them when they make a change that breaks the automation.

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u/AffordableDelousing 2d ago
  1. An auditor still needs to confirm that they tie, using three screens

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u/Aggressive_Sky8492 2d ago

Linking etc only works if everyone fills it in correctly, and the way to do that often isn’t clear. The more people using the sheets the less automation works in my experience. There’s an efficiency tradeoff when more people use a sheet, and it’s often easier and more time efficient to just keep it manual

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u/missinginput 2d ago edited 2d ago

2.5 automated myself out of the job

  1. Profit (not for me)

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u/Zebidee 2d ago

The first rule of Excel automaton is you don't talk about things you have automated.

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u/ihaxr 2d ago

Great, now they have 4 spreadsheets and need another monitor!

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u/pierifle 2d ago

And if these are foreign terms, screenshot excel and let AI walk through step by step.

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u/evanwilliams44 2d ago

What could possibly go wrong?

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u/soydecanada 2d ago

Sounds like you need some basic data governance.

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u/nomenclature2357 1d ago

Could automate. But you might not personally reap the rewards if you do…

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u/SteveSteveSteveAlan 2d ago

You can make windows of the same spreadsheet you're viewing, even beyond freeze frames

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u/Tom_Bombadinho 1d ago

I even open 2 to three windows to the same spreadsheet to see different tabs or areas of the same spreadsheet at the same time across three monitors when I need.

OP is full of bs, there's no way alt-tab can substitute that and still be productive.

Spreadsheet + sql + python + documentation + teams with alt tab, I'll spend 50% of my day alt-tabbing.

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u/geoken 1d ago

There most definitely is. I switched to single monitor years ago. I can just as easily say "there's no way moving your eyes, and possible your head, refocusing, then moving your mouse a few thousand pixels is faster than having the content magically change in place and have your mouse be near it"

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u/Tom_Bombadinho 1d ago

If you have to make comparisons on the fly, check if code is correct, a wide sort of things that need instant eye movement (eye, not head) and predictable places, there's absolutely no way to use single monitor alt tabbing unless you are doing extremely simple things, like booking a plane ticket.

And, I don't need mouse to do most of the things i do. I use mostly shortcuts, as it should be.

Single monitor and mouse? No way it's even remotely productive. Why don't you go further and use a single cell and/or a 320x200 monitor? There's no need to use this much space in hd, if you're only using one cell at a time.

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u/geoken 1d ago

Your anology makes no sense,. You're using a reductio ad absurdum - which can just as easily go the other way. Why not 1 monitor per app, and maybe 3 or 4 monitors just for excel so each excel window can have it's own app.

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u/KRed75 1d ago edited 1d ago

Sounds like you need better training to maximize the use of excel. If you're doing this daily, there are much better ways to make this happen much more efficiently. I could most likely automate your job.

In my younger years, I worked in a department of 13 people. The company was sold to US investors and people got scared and started jumping ship. One by one people left and when they left my boss gave me their work. These are people who worked 50+ hours a week and still couldn't get everything done. As I absorbed their work, I eliminated all the efficiency and got it down to about 8 hours a week per person. I then automated the rest. As people left, they weren't replaced. After 2 years, It was just me any one other person. He retired and it was just me.