Re: [extremeprogramming] Pairing styles

I've also found that I can get teams to accept Mob Programming easier 
than pairing, and I have a theory about why:

   A Mob is more consistent due to "averaging of the signal" of 
everyone's individual quirks.  So it's more knowable in some sense.  If 
you can just get a mob started with a reasonable amount of psych safety, 
there's a very good chance it'll be self-regulating, rather like a 
gyroscope (but without spinning down).

   I got a smile from your (JB) comment about mobbing being dismissed as 
a pipe dream in the XP Toronto group.  Sometimes I describe it to new 
teams as "the craziest thing that could possibly work" because I sure 
would have dismissed it too!

   In that sense it reminds me of another thing that flipped reality for 
most of us - when kanban came along and we saw that sprints (or 
iterations) were not fundamental; continuous flow was just better for 
many situations.  But I digress....

  - njv


On 10/29/19 10:31 AM, Mike Bowler wrote:
>>     Over the years I noted a few more benefits, but also began to
>>     gather a list of "management overhead" elements that pairing
>>     incurred. When I started doing more mobbing, I realized that it
>>     generally eliminates of a lot of these concerns: troublesome
>>     pairings, context switching overhead (which does bring some
>>     positives), what to do with the odd pair, what to do with
>>     solo-dev'd stuff, etc. Nowadays I greatly prefer to mob, though I
>>     once again find that 6 hours is plenty.
>>
>>
>> I would never have guessed 20 years ago that mobbing would be easier 
>> to accept than pairing, given the common objections at the time. We 
>> talked about it at the XP Toronto user group and mostly dismissed it 
>> as a pipe dream. "If 2 is good, then surely 3 would be better...."
> 
> It’s surprised me as well. Mobbing appears to be less threatening and 
> therefore people are more willing to give it a try.
> 
> Today, I often introduce mobbing first and then only later do I talk 
> about pairing as a variant of that.
> 
> Mike Bowler
> Agile & Technical, Coach and Trainer
> Cell: 905 409-7052
> www.GargoyleSoftware.com/mike_bowler 
> <http://www.GargoyleSoftware.com/mike_bowler>
> www.UnconsciousAgile.com <http://www.UnconsciousAgile.com>
> 
> Ask about our Certified Scrum Developer (CSD) training classes 
> <http://www.gargoylesoftware.com/training/csd>. In-house and public 
> classes available.
> 
> 

-- 
Nancy Van Schooenderwoert, BS C.E.
Principal Consultant
Lean-Agile Partners, Inc.
Co-author of Agile Methods for Safety-Critical Systems
           www.agilemethodsforsafetycriticalsystems.com
http://www.leanagilepartners.com
mobile: 781 301 1822         Twitter: @vanschoo


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