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On some teams pairing is the norm; developers enjoy the collaboration & experience enhanced productivity. Others, though, work on teams where pairing is shunned, avoided, or just faked. Why do some craftsmen thrive with pairing while others want nothing to do with it? Why does coach- enforced pairing turn into something dry, distracted, imbalanced & ineffective? Effective pairing can increase creativity, energy, speed & quality. What factors make that possible? Learn how to take action on your team to put an end to soul-sucking, miserable, fake pair programming, and begin teaching your team to collaborate effectively on code.
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In her talk, "Does Pair Programming Have to Suck?" delivered at the MountainWest RubyConf 2012, Angela Harms explores the complexities of pair programming within software development teams. She contrasts the experiences of teams that embrace pairing as a collaborative practice with those that struggle with it, often resulting in ineffective or disengaged pairings. ### Key Points Discussed: - **Benefits of Pair Programming:** - Pair programming is often believed to enhance productivity by improving speed, quality, and knowledge sharing. It helps onboard new developers and fosters collaboration, leading to expressive code and reduced errors. - Personal anecdotes emphasize that successful pair programming can result in simpler solutions and prevent oversight of mistakes due to fresh eyes. - **Challenges and Reasons for Poor Pairing:** - Harms discusses common scenarios where pair programming fails, noting that distractions, lack of experience, and improper setups (like inadequate monitors) can hinder the process. - The perception of pairing as reduced effectiveness, particularly in challenging circumstances or when programmers struggle with self-doubt, can also lead to poor experiences. - **The Dynamic of Pairing:** - Working with junior developers can be valuable despite their initial lack of experience. Such pairings can reveal flaws in one’s own understanding and coding practices through engaged discussion. - Conversely, pairing with a more experienced partner can lead to knowledge gaps if one doesn’t take the initiative to engage and contribute effectively. - **Collaboration as Key to Success:** - Collaboration shouldn’t just be about code; it should also focus on creating an environment where team members feel safe to express their thoughts and opinions. - Emphasizing open communication during pairing fosters creativity, improves standardization of coding practices, and results in better overall code quality. - **Remote Pairing and Continuous Learning:** - Harms advocates for practices like code retreats to refine pairing skills, especially in remote settings, highlighting that participants benefit from intensive collaborative experiences. ### Conclusion and Takeaways: - To make pair programming effective, teams need to prioritize focused collaboration over performance pressure. - Encouraging a culture of communication and openness can significantly improve pairing experiences, making them less soul-sucking and more productive. - Each team member should actively participate in the pairing process to avoid knowledge debt and to foster a sense of shared responsibility in the coding process.
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