techscapades

Iwein Fuld posted a great article about different styles of pair programming. It’s a great post, and I encourage you to read it if you’ve tried pairing but haven’t bought in yet. His rally car analogy is spot-on.

My favorite driver is an outspoken dutch guy. He’s quick on the wheel and if he doesn’t get the idea I’m trying to convey to him he’ll just type something to try if that works. When he does get what I’m mumbling it’s on the screen faster than when I would have typed it myself, so it doesn’t give me time to get frustrated over things not being like the would be when I had the keyboard. And that gives me time to look for exits and pittfalls.

He also dismisses anyone that tries to say pairing isn’t as effective as coding solo.

No you’re not faster on your own, you’re just creating more crap for your colleagues to puzzle over and eventually delete. The code you write alone sucks. That guy that is getting on your nerves is trying to tell you (clumsily) that your code sucks, try to listen to him and you’ll turn into a better programmer. Or maybe you can teach him something and he’ll stop getting on your nerves. … If you’re slowing the other guy down, that’s a good thing. That will prevent him from writing code that you cannot maintain. If you don’t feel worthy of your colleagues code, get over it, or get off the team.

My biggest stumbling block to date has been the ratio of time driving to navigating when you’re pairing a senior and junior dev. Trying to balance productivity and mentoring isn’t always easy. I find allowing the Sr. dev to drive 2/3 of the time and Jr. dev to drive 1/3 strikes close to the optimal balance. Any more driving for the Sr and you’ll lose the Jr entirely as he rides along for the tour. Any less and you lose valuable time in guiding-by-doing.

Whether you’re the driver or navigator, take your role seriously. Share in the responsibility and help foster a mutual respect for the other.