Re:A firm that starts work at 9.06am
by jacques_chester on Monday November 21, 2016 @06:38PM
(#13010325)
Pairing is a skill, it take practice and not everybody will find it applicable.
When I first learned to drive a car I couldn't talk at the same time.
I definitely agree that it's a skill to be learnt and it's something I enjoy.
Is it really useful to do it all the time though? Like there must sometimes be edge cases where people will achieve more alone, e.g. if it's something simple/repetitive, isn't it more productive to just hammer through?
Re:A firm that starts work at 9.06am
by jacques_chester on Wednesday November 23, 2016 @07:13PM
(#13026888)
Sometimes, yes, it would be as effective to solo. But we're reluctant to break pairs because it means the same fan-in/fan-out problem reappears.
So for repetitive stuff we often wind up throwing together something to do it for us.
Additionally, in Pivotal Labs, one goal is to teach the practice of pairing. It works best by total immersion.
By analogy, French teachers try to make the class speak French at all times, even if sometimes it's easier to speak a mix of English and French.
And when I'm not at the keyboard, the slowness of my pair and the inelegance of their code - it's hard to formulate the right nudges or wait for their cogs to spin and realise the issues with their approach.
I'd love to work with better programmers, but they're hard to find.