Pair Programming - Myth Busters!

“If a task takes 1 hour; it takes 2 hours in pair programming.”
“This fix is needed urgently; it is better done alone to save time.”
“It is good only for complicated tasks; there is no need to pair program on simple tasks.”

These are some of the statements you may be hearing around you from experienced developers to even managers. Sadly, there is lack of understanding of dynamics that make pair programming a key agile engineering practice. This, in turn, resulted in lack of its acceptance in teams adopting agile methodologies. Our mission is to dissect the myths around pair programming which brings continuous learning, productivity, quality, and the joy of collaboration to countless developers every day.

Presented at HCCI Scrum Conference 2015.

Transcript

1. Pair Programming Myth Busters
2. 2 What is Pair Programming? Two programmers work as a pair together on one workstation.
3. 3 Nuts & Bolts Driver Navigator Roles
4. 4 Nuts & Bolts Pair Rotation
5. 5 But…
6. 6 “If a task takes 1 hour, it takes 2 hours in pair programming.” Myth #1 myth \ˈmith\ noun an idea or story that is believed by many people but that is not true. Merrium-Webster ®
7. 7 Pairing doubles the time? “That would be true if the hardest part of programming was typing.” Martin Fowler
8. 8 Pairing doubles the time? “Pairs spend 15% more time than individuals. However, resulting code has about 15% fewer defects.” Cockburn, Alistair; Williams, Laurie (2000). "The Costs and Benefits of Pair Programming" (PDF) . Proceedings of the First International Conference on Extreme Programming and Flexible Processes in Software Engineering (XP2000)
9. 9 Pairing doubles the time? —Cockburn, Alistair; Williams, Laurie (XP2000) “Pairs typically consider more design alternatives.” “… arrives at simpler, more maintainable designs.” “They also catch design defects early.”
10. 10 Pairing doubles the time? trust work is fun everyone is a star! continuous review
11. 11 “If a task takes 1 hour, it takes 2 hours in pair programming.” Myth #1
12. 12 “This fix is needed urgently; it is better done alone to save time.” Myth #2
13. 13 Is pairing slower? time if 30% extra even if 100% extra!
14. 14 pairing == slower bug fixing?
15. 15 “This fix is needed urgently.” Pairing not for emergency? confidence minimize regression
16. 16 “This fix is needed urgently; it is better done alone to save time.” Myth #2
17. 17 “It works well only with right partner.” Myth #3
18. 18 Pairing with People Is there a right partner? openness verbal communication brainstorming feedback negotiation
19. 19 One more thing… You’ll know yourself better You’ll know your team better!
20. 20 Myth #3 “It works well only with right partner.” partner.”
21. 21 “It is good only for complex tasks; there is no need to pair program on simple tasks.” Myth #4
22. 22 Simple task Pairing not for simple tasks? Repetitive? Quick? pairing motivates
23. 23 “If I'm writing boring repetitive code it's usually a sign that I've missed an important abstraction, Pairing will help you find that abstraction.” - Martin Fowler Pairing not for simple tasks?
24. 24 Ending notes…
25. 25 The Book
26. 26 Dedicated to… Bhattu Hari Krishna my first pair programmer - Ragu Ragunathan Pattabiraman my worst pair programmer - Rajesh & Bill Watterson creator of Calvin and Hobbes the finest of pair programmers
27. Thank you Ragunathan Pattabiraman Rajesh Yanuganti