Pair-Programming From a Beginner’s Perspective @irinatsyganok 

Test Automation User Experience Java Development Web Development 

Compatibility Emotional Cultural Psychological 

Frustrations To pair or not to pair? 

Frustrations To pair or not to pair? Availability 

Frustrations To pair or not to pair? Availability Deadlines 

Frustrations To pair or not to pair? Availability Deadlines Sharing is caring 

To pair or not to pair? Availability Deadlines Sharing is caring Junior mind readers Frustrations 

Engagement 

Personas Junior Developer Inexperienced Lacking confidence Hesitant to make suggestions Minimal knowledge of codebase Senior Developer Expert Confident Happily makes suggestions Expert knowledge of codebase Focus of learning Codebase, terminology, architecture, IDE shortcuts Best practices, trends, performance 

Junior The Needs 

Junior Permission to make mistakes The Needs 

Junior Permission to make mistakes Encouragement to experiment The Needs 

Junior Permission to make mistakes Encouragement to experiment Constructive feedback The Needs 

Junior Permission to make mistakes Encouragement to experiment Constructive feedback Friendly disposition The Needs 

Junior Permission to make mistakes Encouragement to experiment Constructive feedback Friendly disposition Active engagement The Needs 

Junior Senior Permission to make mistakes Encouragement to experiment Constructive feedback Friendly disposition Active engagement The Needs 

Junior Senior Permission to make mistakes Permission to make mistakes Encouragement to experiment Encouragement to experiment Constructive feedback Constructive feedback Friendly disposition Friendly disposition Active engagement Active engagement The Needs 

The pain points - Junior I am slowing him down Sometimes I do not understand what he is saying I ask questions all the time 

The pain points - Senior He is slowing me down We discuss a line of code for 10 minutes Can I just type in and move on? This seems like a one-way conversation What kind of pairing is this? 

Junior + Senior != pairing? “A teacher-student relationship feels very different from two people working together as equals even if one has significantly more experience... [extremeprogramming.org] 

Pairing Patterns Leader/Adopter 

Social Work environment filters social interactions through a prism of organisational culture 

Can anyone be a leader? Acknowledgement 

Acknowledgement Evaluation Can anyone be a leader? 

Acknowledgement Evaluation Consent Can anyone be a leader? 

No pain no gain? + Collaboration at the centre of company culture + Knowledge transfer + Improved general pairing and people skills 

Our strategies Swapping pairs Agreeing on the WIP Comfortable working environment Time apart Synchronised breaks Start to end story ownership Small talk 

Final Thoughts ..Our willingness to work together could be the juice that will push technology forward. We will all have to master pair-programming (not just mentoring) to make this work. It will be awesome. Best regards. -- Ward [Ward Cunningham on Pair Programming to the pdxruby mailing list. Thu, 29 Nov 2012]