Every time: Starting a session
- Can you both see the monitor? Get comfortable.
- how long will you be pairing for, when will the breaks be (every 45 minutes)
- when swap? (every ten minutes, every green test, other little goals?)
- talk through the business logic / user story
Every time: after a session:
- what was hard about the session
- what were the unexpected benefits?
- how can we make it better next time?
Key takeaway:
- most benefits realised when you combine pairing, clean code and test-driven-development.
Why pair?
- whole team accountability
- higher standards
- can go on holiday (no key-man dependency, no bus-factor, no handover)
- continuous handover
- continuous code review
- build strong team relationships (how long does this take?)
- increases inclusion and authenticity
- story about girl who hated her job until that team started pairing
- opportunities for juniors to work on critical items
- everyone learns lots of tips and tricks
- deliberate action: challenge your own thinking
- story about submarine verbalising routine possibly-dangerous actions
How to pair?
- no phones
- one monitor
- same thought process
- low level hum of quiet discussion
- if on laptop, plug in a keyboard (no hogging screen)
- mirror displays
- no slack
Quickstart to get a team used to pairing
- identify why (measurable goals, e.g. 150% improved cycle time)
- agree to a two week experiment
- work through discomfort
- be courageous
- review regularly
- what's hard
- what are the unexpected benefits
- how can we make it better
- block out time in calendar and link slack status to it so you don't get interrupted
tips and tricks:
- offsite pairing might help
- team charter to make sure values aligned
- development style: use a linter!
advanced:
- mob once a week. Several developers sitting around a shared TV, passing around the keyboard.
- use a timer to swap
- track who you pair with to make sure you get everyone. Make a chart.
- pairing cycle: make a test pass, refactor, write next (failing) test, pass over the keyboard
- everyone knows what's going on, manager can ask anyone
- team size 4-6 (bigger gets inefficient)
17 november code retreat. kata. pair with someone for 45 minutes then delete your code. dojo. new challenge for each pair.
