Remote Pair Programming: A Guide for Distributed Agile Teams

Remote pair programming is surprisingly simple and inexpensive to implement, but it’s not just about bleeding-edge technology — a good attitude is just as important as good technology. Joe will walk you through how your distributed team can successfully implement remote pair programming, allowing you to realize the same benefits as in-person pairing and address some of the challenges of distributed development. Joe will discuss the important personal and interpersonal skills needed for remote pairing as well as the technology.

Distributed agile teams need not forgo the valuable discipline of pair programming. Thanks to ubiquitous high speed internet service, major advances in online collaboration technologies, and the need to source talent wherever they might be, remote pair programming is becoming more common.

Transcript

1. Remote Pair Programming A Guide for Distributed Agile Teams Wednesday, August 15, 12
2. Remote Pair Programming A Guide for Distributed Agile Teams … and other thoughts about remote collaboration Wednesday, August 15, 12
3. Agenda Overview People Challenges “You’re Remote Pairing Today” Technology Wednesday, August 15, 12
4. http://svy.mk/pairprogram Feedback Wednesday, August 15, 12
5. Who? Wednesday, August 15, 12
6. Joe Moore - @joem joe.moore@gmail.com Pivotal Labs - @pivotallabs Who? Wednesday, August 15, 12
7. Who? Pair programming since 2000 Wednesday, August 15, 12
8. Who? Remote pair programming full time since 2010 Wednesday, August 15, 12
9. Pair Programming? Wednesday, August 15, 12
10. Pair Programming? Two developers coding on the same development workstation Wednesday, August 15, 12
11. Pair Programming? Solving the same problem, at the same time, together Wednesday, August 15, 12
12. Pair Programming? • Higher quality • Fewer defects • Focus • Intensity • Faster problem solving • Knowledge transfer • Code review • Wednesday, August 15, 12
13. What? Remote pair programming Wednesday, August 15, 12
14. What? Pair programming, but not at the same physical computer Wednesday, August 15, 12
15. What? What does it look like? Wednesday, August 15, 12
16. Wednesday, August 15, 12
17. Wednesday, August 15, 12
18. Wednesday, August 15, 12
19. Wednesday, August 15, 12
20. Video Remote pairing: debugging a phone http://youtu.be/mfoJ6mBVi2w Wednesday, August 15, 12
21. Challenges Wednesday, August 15, 12
22. Challenges Wednesday, August 15, 12
23. Video Remote pairing: (listen for both our voices) http://youtu.be/CWJMzW1ZqNE Wednesday, August 15, 12
24. Wednesday, August 15, 12
25. Wednesday, August 15, 12
26. Video Remote pairing: coding via screen sharing http://youtu.be/4PkT1bbmA4I Wednesday, August 15, 12
27. Wednesday, August 15, 12
28. Wednesday, August 15, 12
29. When? Remote pair programming Wednesday, August 15, 12
30. When? Your project is split between multiple locations Wednesday, August 15, 12
31. When? You work for a “virtual company” Wednesday, August 15, 12
32. When? Your project has remote developers Wednesday, August 15, 12
33. When? Someone needs another person’s expertise but they’re not co-located Wednesday, August 15, 12
34. When? You’re giving a remote pairing interview Wednesday, August 15, 12
35. Why? Remote pair programming Wednesday, August 15, 12
36. Why? RPP can have the same benefits as in-person pair programming Wednesday, August 15, 12
37. Why? • Higher quality • Fewer defects • Focus • Intensity • Faster problem solving • Knowledge transfer • Code review • Wednesday, August 15, 12
38. Why? Counteract remote development pitfalls Wednesday, August 15, 12
39. Why? • Higher quality • Fewer defects • Focus • Intensity • Faster problem solving • Knowledge transfer • Code review • Wednesday, August 15, 12
40. Why? Silo is a four-letter word Wednesday, August 15, 12
41. Why? Some people like it better than in-person pairing? Wednesday, August 15, 12
42. Why? Some people like it better than in-person pairing? It’s true! I’ve heard it multiple times! Wednesday, August 15, 12
43. How? Remote pair programming Wednesday, August 15, 12
44. How? It’s about the people, not just technologies Wednesday, August 15, 12
45. How? You can’t fix a team of tools with tools Wednesday, August 15, 12
46. How? Patience Wednesday, August 15, 12
47. How? Express your ideas clearly and concisely Wednesday, August 15, 12
48. How? Extremely good pairing etiquette Wednesday, August 15, 12
49. How? “Do you mind if I drive?” “I’m going to grab the mouse.” “Can I look at something?” “Go ahead and drive.” Wednesday, August 15, 12
50. How? Supportive operations/infrastructure team Wednesday, August 15, 12
51. How? A good attitude Wednesday, August 15, 12
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56. How? Team must be generous and understanding Wednesday, August 15, 12
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60. Wednesday, August 15, 12
61. How? Do’s and Don’ts Wednesday, August 15, 12
62. Do… • Be patient • Be assertive about being included • Make an effort to include remote dev • Take breaks, play ping pong • Use video (especially at first) How? Wednesday, August 15, 12
63. x Exclude remotes from local conversations x Exclude remotes from meetings x Be the strong, silent type x Just walk away x Lay your headphones on keyboard Don’t… How? Wednesday, August 15, 12
64. How? Regarding Video Wednesday, August 15, 12
65. How? I’m striving for a “high fidelity” experience Wednesday, August 15, 12
66. Wednesday, August 15, 12
67. Wednesday, August 15, 12
68. How? Let’s play a game called: “What’s going on?” Wednesday, August 15, 12
69. What’s going on? Wednesday, August 15, 12
70. What’s going on? Wednesday, August 15, 12
71. What’s going on? Wednesday, August 15, 12
72. What’s going on? Wednesday, August 15, 12
73. What’s going on? Wednesday, August 15, 12
74. What’s going on? Wednesday, August 15, 12
75. Challenges Remote pair programming Wednesday, August 15, 12
76. Challenges The same challenges as in-person pair programming Wednesday, August 15, 12
77. Challenges Lacks some of the traditional work-from-home benefits (especially full-time pairing) Wednesday, August 15, 12
78. Challenges Lack of shared facilities Wednesday, August 15, 12
79. Challenges Lack of shared facilities • Whiteboards • Notecards • Big visible charts • Information radiators • Lunch area • Hallway conversations • Wednesday, August 15, 12
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81. Wednesday, August 15, 12
82. Wednesday, August 15, 12
83. Wednesday, August 15, 12
84. Challenges 2 timezones is hard Wednesday, August 15, 12
85. Challenges 3 timezones is harder Wednesday, August 15, 12
86. Challenges 12 timezones is…??? Wednesday, August 15, 12
87. Challenges Technology gremlins Wednesday, August 15, 12
88. Challenges Technology gremlins • flaky internet • firewalls • Skype • crappy software • broken hardware • Skype • VPNs • SKYPE Wednesday, August 15, 12
89. Skype • Skype • Skype • Skype • Sk ype • Skype • Skyyyyyyyype • Skyp Skype • Skype • Skype • Skype • Sk SKYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYPE!!!!!!! • Sky • Skype • Skype • Skype • Skype Skype • Skyyyye!!! Skype • Skype • Skype • Skype • Skyyyyyyyyyyyyype!!! • Skype • Sky Wednesday, August 15, 12
90. Challenges Working from home? Get savvy with your home network Wednesday, August 15, 12
91. Meetings, stand-ups, scrums, planning sessions, etc? But what about… Wednesday, August 15, 12
92. Wednesday, August 15, 12
93. Now what? “You’re remote pairing today” Wednesday, August 15, 12
94. 1. Find a headset 2. Exchange Skype info and invites 3. Call, preferably with video 4. Talk about RPP experiences 5. Agree on OS, editor, dev setup 6. Choose and try a screen sharing tech “You’re remote pairing today” Wednesday, August 15, 12
95. “You’re remote pairing today” Remember the Do’s and Don’ts Wednesday, August 15, 12
96. “You’re remote pairing today” Remote pairing interviews Wednesday, August 15, 12
97. See previous list, and also: • Send interviewee a setup email 24 hours before the interview • Consider browser-based screen sharing for simplicity (more later) “You’re remote pairing today” Remote pairing interviews Wednesday, August 15, 12
98. “You’re remote pairing today” Hello Sally -- I'm Joe Moore, software engineer at Pivotal Labs. You and I will be remote pairing today! Do you mind answering a couple of questions and performing a little setup? • What is your Skype ID? • What operating system are you using? Are you on a Mac, PC, or Linux machine? • What is your screen resolution? If you could, please download and install TeamViewer, which we will likely use Remote pairing interviews Wednesday, August 15, 12
99. Questions before we talk about technology? Wednesday, August 15, 12
100. The Tech Wednesday, August 15, 12
101. The Tech There will be problems Wednesday, August 15, 12
102. The Tech Fast high speed Internet, especially upload bandwidth from the host Wednesday, August 15, 12
103. The Tech Remember wired networks? They’re fast! Wednesday, August 15, 12
104. The Tech VPN: gateway through firewalls Wednesday, August 15, 12
105. The Tech: Screen Sharing Many options depending on networks speed, firewalls, ease of use Wednesday, August 15, 12
106. The Tech: Screen Sharing Full desktop sharing or Terminal based Wednesday, August 15, 12
107. The Tech Full Desktop Sharing Wednesday, August 15, 12
108. The Tech: Screen Sharing Full Desktop Sharing Considerations Cross Platform? Works across Windows, Mac, Linux No VPN Some (usually) punch through firewalls, some don’t In Web Browser Quickest way to get a session going, but sometimes limiting 2-Way Control Presentation software only allows the host to control Wednesday, August 15, 12
109. Joe’s Recommendations The Tech: Screen Sharing Full Desktop Sharing Cross Platform No VPN In Web Browser 2-Way Control ✓(VNC) X X ✓ ✓ X X ✓ X ✓ X ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ X X ✓ ✓ ✓ X Wednesday, August 15, 12
110. Screen Sharing The Tech /System/Library/CoreServices Wednesday, August 15, 12
111. The Tech: Screen Sharing Full Desktop Sharing 2-Way Control ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ X X Pause for Rant Wednesday, August 15, 12
112. The Tech: “Screen” Sharing tmux – shared ssh sessions Wednesday, August 15, 12
113. The Tech: “Screen” Sharing tmux – shared ssh sessions • Fast! • Good for Vim, Emacs editors • Popular in Ruby, Scala communities • Best for low bandwidth connections • Addictive usage model Wednesday, August 15, 12
114. The Tech: “Screen” Sharing tmux cont… • Requires ssh access, possibly VPN • Learning curve using tmux commands • Desktop screen sharing for some activities • Not for IDEs - iOS, Java, .NET Wednesday, August 15, 12
115. The Tech: “Screen” Sharing tmux – shared ssh sessions Pause for Rant Wednesday, August 15, 12
116. Wednesday, August 15, 12
117. Wednesday, August 15, 12
118. Wednesday, August 15, 12
119. The Tech Video Conferencing Wednesday, August 15, 12
120. Video Conferencing The Tech Wednesday, August 15, 12
121. The Tech Love it or hate it, Skype is ubiquitous and has great echo cancelation Video Conferencing Wednesday, August 15, 12
122. The Tech Video Conferencing http://www.cisco.com/web/telepresence Wednesday, August 15, 12
123. Development Workstation Wednesday, August 15, 12
124. Computer for Development Wednesday, August 15, 12
125. Laptop for Skype Wednesday, August 15, 12
126. Snowball Mic for Groups or Office Wednesday, August 15, 12
127. Speakers for Groups or Office Wednesday, August 15, 12
128. Headest Wednesday, August 15, 12
129. Long Term Remote Pairing Wednesday, August 15, 12
130. Works best with dedicated RPP stations and dedicated audio/video laptops Long Term Remote Pairing Wednesday, August 15, 12
131. Dedicated stations: everyone knows where to find the remote people Long Term Remote Pairing Wednesday, August 15, 12
132. “Little Atlanta” Wednesday, August 15, 12
133. Telepresence, etc. Random Thoughts Wednesday, August 15, 12
134. “Skype-enabled” meeting rooms Conference Rooms Wednesday, August 15, 12
135. Conference Rooms Wednesday, August 15, 12
136. http://www.cisco.com/web/telepresence Conference Rooms Wednesday, August 15, 12
137. What about iPads? Wednesday, August 15, 12
138. Promising! What about iPads? Wednesday, August 15, 12
139. What about iPads? Wednesday, August 15, 12
140. http://www.doublerobotics.com/ Wednesday, August 15, 12
141. What about ROBOTS!?!?! http://anybots.com Wednesday, August 15, 12
142. http://www.newscientist.com http://internetdebris.blogspot.com/ OMG ROBOTS!!!!!! Wednesday, August 15, 12
143. http://www.newscientist.com http://internetdebris.blogspot.com/ ??? OMG ROBOTS????? Wednesday, August 15, 12
144. Thank You! Joe Moore Pivotal Labs @joem joe.moore@gmail.com http://svy.mk/pairprogram Wednesday, August 15, 12