Comments on: Why pair programming is kind of cool

By: beth

beth — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:25:54 +0000

Thanks Guys! XXX

By: Craig

Craig — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:31:50 +0000

It certainly helps that Beth is an absolutely wonderful person and a delight to be around. I’ve know too many developers that are the exact opposite. Teachable maybe, unbearable absolutely. But finding that rare pairing is great.

By: Mark W. Schumann

Mark W. Schumann — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:46:13 +0000

I used to believe in black-box testing, a long time ago–not sure why. Pairing with your tester is cool! It’s the ultimate white-box test.

Now that you mention it, Josh, most Agile techniques depend on commitment and good will. You can make TDD fail if you want. You can turn Scrum into a Scramble.

That’s the strength and the weakness (if you call it that) of the Agile concept. In touchy-feely emotional terms, Agile uses more of you than conventional methodologies do. Which means it’s not gonna work if you don’t show up… the same way counseling or poetry will come out badly if you’re resistant or resentful.

By: The Agile Academy

The Agile Academy — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:02:19 +0000

Pair programming can be challenging and see potentially as someone watching over your shoulder. Many of our Agile teams at Suncorp use pair programming. We find it’s best to mix experienced with less experienced. This will bring the other individual up to speed much quicker and it’s enriching for the whole team. It shouldn’t be limited by technology or role type though. One of our highly regarded front-end development teams pair testers with developers for example to create automated continuous integration builds. In response to a question around pair programming on LinkedIn we got some interesting responses as well if you want to check them out at http://tr.im/CBDT.

By: Twitter Trackbacks for Why pair programming is kind of cool « Critical Results [criticalresults.com] on Topsy.com

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:28:00 +0000

[...] Why pair programming is kind of cool « Critical Results blog.criticalresults.com/2009/10/21/pair-programming-cool – view page – cached If pair programming feels threatening at first, you’re normal. Two developers, one keyboard… yuck. If you’re like me, you want your own space, and you get a kind of rhythm going with… (Read more)If pair programming feels threatening at first, you’re normal. Two developers, one keyboard… yuck. If you’re like me, you want your own space, and you get a kind of rhythm going with mid-compile checking email and stuff. Taking that away during pair programming time sounds like it would be incredibly awkward. (Read less) — From the page [...]

By: Josh Schramm

Josh Schramm — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:46:59 +0000

Good post. I once worked for a large company where we “experimented” with paired programming. I found that the quality of experience you have has everything to do with the mindset of the people going into it. I truly enjoyed pairing with people who were driven to build good code, actually played the keyboard game and pointed things out as it went along. On the other hand on more than one occasion I would be pairing with someone who had absolutely no interest in sitting next to someone all day while they do their job. In these cases the pair generally shut off and I found myself doing all the work while the pair looked over my shoulder in a kinda creepy not helpful way.

My advice is if your in an environment where pairing is the norm then you need to mentally get behind it and give it an honest effort. If you do you might find its no where near as bad as you thought it could be.