This post is one in a series by InRhythm’s own Carl Vitullo. Check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and follow Carl on Twitter for more awesome thinking.
How often do 2 devs work together on a single task? 3 or more devs?
To use the common jargon, pair programming and mob programming. There’s a classic comic about interrupting developers.
https://twitter.com/detly/status/394755439314755584
But I recently saw this version updated for pair programming, and it strongly resonated with my experiences.
I keep seeing that one comic around about Never Interrupt A Developer, and I couldn't really relate, so I redrew it to reflect my experiences pic.twitter.com/liXbFM2eSA
— Anne LoVerso (@AnneLoVerso) March 9, 2018
Development is not an inherently solitary activity, and I believe that working together on a single task produces better output than working individually. Of course there are times where you need to split off and write code independently, but programming as part of a team is about precisely committing mental models to disk: the clearer the mental model, the better the end result, and extended discussion between multiple developers is, in my opinion, the best way to clarify mental models.
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