How to Build A Command Center
I’ve had a command center for over 10 years! It’s been so long that when I have to use a single monitor I feel terribly unproductive.
In this article, I hope to give you some guidance on how to create your own command center; the gear I use as well as how I use 6 monitors.
When friends come over to my house or someone finds out I use six to nine monitors they find it baffling as to how it could be useful. So before we get into the specs let me provide some clarity on how I use 6 monitors and sometimes nine.
Preemptive multi-tasking
In college, I learned about how the CPU handles multitasking and It reminded me of how I normally operate, which I found amusing.
I rarely start a single task and finish all the way to completion. Rather, I do multiple tasks, switching between them until all or most are complete.
Below I copied a more official explanation from Wikipedia for those who are unfamiliar of this term:
The term preemptive multitasking is used to distinguish a multitasking operating system, which permits preemption of tasks, from a cooperative multitasking system wherein processes or tasks must be explicitly programmed to yield when they do not need system resources.
In simple terms: Preemptive multitasking involves the use of an interrupt mechanism which suspends the currently executing process and invokes a scheduler to determine which process should execute next. Therefore, all processes will get some amount of CPU time at any given time.
To put a finer point on it, while I write this article I am watching a new movie, reading/responding to emails/text/IMs, writing a new module in Navi and stopping to take notes on future articles or navi ideas.
This isn’t uncommon; especially among those who have ADHD tendencies.
This is important because if you are someone who completes a set of tasks in a linear fashion, one-by-one, a desktop with 6 monitors is not going to be helpful; in fact it will be distracting at best.
How I productively use Six Monitors
If you have a job in technology you may find a lot of our work has built in wait time. This could be waiting for something to install, a scan to finish, a machine to reboot, a workflow to be pushed to production, a test to finish, waiting for a co-worker to respond or a meeting that ends early. What ever the reason, we have lots of minutes that can be capitalized instead of lost.
In addition, we lose lots of time swapping between applications. This is one of the better benefits to multiple monitors, as you will see shortly. Let’s dive into the structure and how I use each Monitor.
Top Left
My top left monitor has my calendar on it 90% of the time. The other 10% is reserved for articles I intend to read or presentations I plan on reviewing. This screen stays static but saves me so much time from flipping to my calendar. I can simply look up and see what I should be doing or answer a quick question on availability; which happens often each day.
Top Middle
My top middle monitor is the third most used monitor. It is 100% used for instant messaging collaborators at work. Most of my interaction is either through video conferencing or instant message(IM) leaning heavily towards IM.
Top Right
My top right monitor is for music, movies, GitHub, or social media. I keep an eye on my GitHub in case there are any issues however the majority of my busy work is paired with a movie I’ve seen hundreds of times. This has a counter-intuitive focus effect. Many find it crazy I could concentrate while a movie is playing, but I find without it I am less focused and have less energy.
Bottom Left
My bottom left monitor is 90% email. Since I am on the sales side, response time is important. I’ve turned off all of my alerts so keeping my email up on the left is helpful. The other 10% is when I am taking notes during a Video conference call.
Laptop / Bottom Middle
My laptop screen is 50% video conferencing and 50% command line interface. I live in the command line and run a lab with 40 VMs and lots of containers which are all run via the CLI.
The laptop also is one of the two monitors that I use the most often.
Bottom Right
My bottom right and my laptop monitor are my most used screens. I do most of my active work on my right screen. So any development, writing articles, creating presentations is all done to my right. The majority of my time, about 80%, is spent between bouncing between these two monitors.
Command Center Specs
These are specs that I have upgraded into; when I started as I expand on below, I had all used equipment. So if you are interested in creating a better office experience with a command center you can do it on a budget. Here is my setup below today:
Monitors
Last year I upgraded all of my monitors during a cyber Monday blow out and got five 24 inch Monitors for 40% off— VH240a.
You should be mindful that your monitor mount may not be wide enough to go much bigger than 24 inches. If you want to go bigger you may need to use smaller mounts strategically placed.
My monitors in the picture below are as far the outside of the mount as you can go and I only have millimeters between the top monitors.
Monitor Mount
I purchased this mount over 10 years ago and prices have come down significantly. This 6 Monitor Mount is almost the same exact one but is half the price of what I originally paid.
USB3 Hub
The USB3 Hub connects two monitors via USB to VGA and USB mouse. These two monitors are used for reading and responding to emails(lower left) and Instant messages(top).
USBC to HDMI x2
The USBC to HDMI x2 run my upper left and upper right screens. The upper right screen is typically for Movies so it needs a faster connection.
Microphone
I often get asked if I do Podcasts or online videos using a microphone like this; I don’t. The pop filter, reduces the harshness of the ‘s’ or ‘t’ sounds when speaking using the microphone. Most of my work is done over video conference so it’s important that my voice sounds clear.
Laptop
The only important thing about your Laptop or desktop is that it has a USB3 port, an HDMI port, and a USBC port. These are all required to connect the monitors.
Total Cost: $1,000 and $4,000 Depending on your taste and budget
A Brief History
My first command center was actually a way to work on six computers at once to remove malware and viruses. I ran a small business at the time and also helped my friends and family with computer problems.
Having 6 monitors allowed me to remove viruses from 6 different computers using a KVM(Keyboard-Video-Mouse). Each monitor was used and a different size and brand as you can see below. I spent less than $200 on the entire setup since I already had a used laptop.
When I decided to move back into the workforce I reduced the number of computers connected to the six monitors to two. Shortly after that I stumbled on the usb-vga adapters that allowed me to connect more than three monitors to my laptop and therefore reducing it to one laptop and five extra monitors.
Now, I have two desks. One developer desk and my Command Center; although I consider my entire office the “Command Center”.
Building my command center is one of the most important aspects of how I stay highly productive at home. Your environment is everything and if you haven’t yet you need to build a work environment that you WANT to work in for hours at a time.
Conclusion
If you work from home and you also utilize preemptive multitasking it may be time to build yourself a Command Center! However, if you are overwhelmed at merely the thought of having 6 screens to bounce between than it might be no more than a conversational starter.
