Re: Pair Programming

So said  Bill Walton  on  12/20/2002 --------------------

>Andrew Fuqua wrote:
>
>
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: J. B. Rainsberger [mailto:[email protected]]
>> > I certainly couldn't pair eight hours every day. I assumed
>> > that the PP problem was being considered in the context of
>> > not being able to pair even for (say) four hours every day.
>> > An interesting question: how little pairing is too little, in
>> > hours? I'll set the bar at about six.
>>
>> This may be off of the topic of extreme customering. If so, somebody say
>so and we'll stop.
>
>I don't currently see this as OT.  Quite the contrary, in fact.  Stefan
>asked an important question, IMO, about an XP practice that potentially
>clashes with a business practice that's wide-spread; "flex time" we call it
>here in the U.S..  It's a very important Benefit intended to support
>diversity in the workforce.  If a practice that's central to XP is at odds
>with it, that's not good news.  There are lots of folks who would rather
>switch employers than give up flex time.  I encourage you to continue to
>explore this to help Stefan and the rest of us understand whether or not XP
>can co-exist with this corporate practice.

As I have said, I have been willing to sacrifice my otherwise sacrosanct flex time in order to do XP (and PP, by extension). It would be instructive to the managers in the room to know why I want flex time and why I was willing to give it up to pair.

Why I wanted flex time
======================
I like sleeping until I wake up, rather than using an alarm.
I find it convenient to have full authority to work four hours today and twelve hours tomorrow, if that's what it takes to get the job done right.

Why I was willing to give up flex time
======================================
I need to know how effective Pair Programming and XP could be
Once I started pairing with good people, I didn't have as many days where I didn't want to stay in the office ("four-hour days").

Likely there is more, but I can conclude a few things:

One reason I wanted flex time was to be essentially autonomous in dealing with "unproductive" days: deferring time spent to another day when I could be more effective. One thing I found after doing XP for a while is that I had fewer such days.

Now I realize that the typical reasons for flex time have more to do with family commitments, getting the kids to school and day care and the like; but it may be useful for HR personnel and development managers to understand the various reasons for wanting flex time and how in some percentage of cases, XP addresses those issues in a different way.



>
>[snip]
>
>Best regards,
>Bill
>
>
>
>
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J. B. Rainsberger,
President, Diaspar Software Services
Let's write software that people understand.
http://www.diasparsoftware.com/
telephone: +1 416 791-8603
All correspondence (c) 2002 Diaspar Software Services.
If you want to use it, just ask; don't steal.




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