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This is the typical response to pair push-back. And I have no interest in convincing anyone why it is not for me. I will interview.

brightball 9y ago
That's the thing...it's the typical response because it's true... If pairing periodically is enough of a burden on you that it would cause you to interview elsewhere, it really seems like you're overthinking the impact.
- cpayne624 9y ago
  You’re being dogmatic. Assuming that something works for everyone because it works for you, and if they say it doesn’t, it’s because they “don’t understand,” is wholly closed-minded.
  - brightball 9y ago
    I have to ask...what is your expectation of working on a development team? How do you feel team members should learn from each other? What process would you use to help get junior developers up to speed faster? These are the questions that periodic pairing answers with the lowest possible negative impact to members time. Now, if you get into an environment that is 100% pairing all the time, or two people at the keyboard taking turns with an egg timer, etc...that can be a huge pain and I'd totally understand not wanting any part of it. Watching somebody code while you drink a cup of coffee at your desk and offering the occasional "you know, if you do such-n-such it will be a little cleaner" or "I think there's a function that already does what you're writing"...is pretty low-impact. EDIT: I read through your comment history and see that you were with Pivotal. IIRC they are a pairing all the time shop (I seem to remember seeing a presentation at some point). I can completely understand how that would suck.
mbrameld 9y ago
Yes, you will interview, because you'd be fired. I'm looking to build a team, not a collection of individuals. You don't have the necessary skills.
- rboyd 9y ago
  His point is that he doesn't want to work in your environment of programming to the least common denominator. It's perfectly reasonable that you want to build a team of interchangeable parts. It's also reasonable that most expert programmers don't want to be tethered to mediocrity.
- wolco 9y ago
  Why not hire senior developers who do not need to pairup in order to read and understand the changes happening in the codebase?

brightball 9y ago

That's the thing...it's the typical response because it's true... If pairing periodically is enough of a burden on you that it would cause you to interview elsewhere, it really seems like you're overthinking the impact.

cpayne624 9y ago
You’re being dogmatic. Assuming that something works for everyone because it works for you, and if they say it doesn’t, it’s because they “don’t understand,” is wholly closed-minded.
- brightball 9y ago
  I have to ask...what is your expectation of working on a development team? How do you feel team members should learn from each other? What process would you use to help get junior developers up to speed faster? These are the questions that periodic pairing answers with the lowest possible negative impact to members time. Now, if you get into an environment that is 100% pairing all the time, or two people at the keyboard taking turns with an egg timer, etc...that can be a huge pain and I'd totally understand not wanting any part of it. Watching somebody code while you drink a cup of coffee at your desk and offering the occasional "you know, if you do such-n-such it will be a little cleaner" or "I think there's a function that already does what you're writing"...is pretty low-impact. EDIT: I read through your comment history and see that you were with Pivotal. IIRC they are a pairing all the time shop (I seem to remember seeing a presentation at some point). I can completely understand how that would suck.

mbrameld 9y ago

Yes, you will interview, because you'd be fired. I'm looking to build a team, not a collection of individuals. You don't have the necessary skills.

rboyd 9y ago
His point is that he doesn't want to work in your environment of programming to the least common denominator. It's perfectly reasonable that you want to build a team of interchangeable parts. It's also reasonable that most expert programmers don't want to be tethered to mediocrity.
wolco 9y ago
Why not hire senior developers who do not need to pairup in order to read and understand the changes happening in the codebase?