We have been doing Pair Programming for years and have tried lots of different layouts. Spending on hardware to get improvements in productivity makes even more sense when pairing developers. Our latest thought is to get an extra graphics card and 2 additional monitors so each developer has 2 monitors. The tricky part will be fitting everything on one of our tables.
Has anyone tried this? Things to watch out for, benefits, etc.
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yveshanoulle
yes http://www.flickr.com/photos/yveshanoulle/297642461/ This setup is very cost effective as it boosts the productivity, even for people not pairing. Yes a CI is even more important, but in my opnion it is not OR, it is AND
Wow! That looks awesome – would you mind sharing the technical specs and how you did it? Also where are you based? (might have to stop by to take a peek!) :)
John Merriwether
[ Editor ]
That sounds interesting! But I would ask you - is that the best investment for hardware if you are looking for a productivity boost?
I would think that investing in a faster CI server, solid-state drives for development machines, etc. would yield higher productivity than an additional monitor.
I haven't tried it so I'd be very interested to know your results if you do try it.
Good point. Seems like a question all in itself … “what is the best hardware investment to increase developer productivity?”. We already have boosted those other areas (super fast dev boxes, very fast ci server). We were trying to improve think time – being able to see more on screen could speed the thought process…
Part of the thinking is also that when our developers don’t pair (which is very seldom – usually if someone is sick, etc) – we have noticed that the developer will typically change the monitors from clone to extended desktop to get the extra space
Tucker
I think the 4 monitor setup would take up far too much desk space. Our monitors are already just past the middle of desk, so with four they would need to move closer to the keyboard which is bad ergonomics and make for a cramped work space.
There are times that a second monitor would be very useful; such as cases where you need to look at a document/spreadsheet while developing or doing QA. But the desk would need to be really big so don't think it is feasible.
haoest
[ Editor ]
No one would dispute the benefits of having a dual-monitor setup when it were one person.
Imagine you have your IDE on the primary display, coding away breathlessly, comfortably knowing that the secondary display has all the oxygen you need for your next inhalation, letting you hold your chain of thought, reassuring you conquest of the problem, boosting your confidence, which would have otherwise been crippling (relatively speaking.) It makes programming so much more blissful. When I said oxygen, I mean at least the following:
In paring, having four monitors for 2 programmers is a bit redundant, because three will do the job by placing the secondary display in the middle. And it doesn't even need to be as nice as the primary. I recommend one with a TV tuner.
Just saying...
Hao (not a budget maker or the treasury)