Productivity with increasing real-estate 

This studying going around the net now: http://www.necdisplay.com/gowide/NEC_Productivity_Study_0208.pdf

http://blogs.wsj.com/biztech/2008/03/10/bigger-computer-monitors-more-productivity/

http://www.techreport.com/discussions.x/14343

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001076.html

Here is the NEC chart and my extention? Note that 18” is the steady state (100%) – everything is compared to this.

So is this saying that there is an optimal screen size?

An optimal real-estate for productivity?

If such a thing exists should we be aiming for it as a design center?

Should we be recommending it as a best practice for traders?

Does this change when you increase the number of tasks? (This appears to be a 1 task study, Edit a word doc or spreadsheet.)

If the trajectory is as shown you could show significant productivity and cost gains by selecting the correct size real-estate?

Why is the dual monitor drawn as if it is going straight up?

• It should be the same curve just shifted to the left?
• Or are 2 really better than one? More than 2? Even if they have the same real-estate?

There is something that just does not feel right about this study. The fact that NEC sponsored it is not that problematic for me (note the gains do not keep increasing). However, the number of incoming sources, “control knobs” and outgoing events would seem to impact this to a great deal. Who sits with one app open doing work?

So all this discomfort says to me is this was a nice start but may not be transferable to reality at this point. I would love to see what this would mean in our space. Could we truly optimize traders’ performance with their tools? It seems compelling to me especially since the curve is so sharp going up the performance curve. Think about moving from 20 – 30” monitor is a 30% increase in productivity. That is enormous.

Any thoughts?