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With paired programming I have always felt comfortable sharing a Googling of the problem with either the co-driver or the driver, depending which role I am in.

With paired programming I have always felt comfortable sharing a Googling of the problem with either the co-driver or the driver, depending which role I am in. Can you explain what you perceive to be the problem with accessing something like StackOverflow to help solve a persistent problem or even to simply jog one's memory? I find that this fear of being shamed for using the obvious resources at our fingertips to be one of the things that makes people less likely to want to pair. IMO there is nothing wrong with consulting books, websites, other people's ideas/opinions, or other knowledge repositories to help make good decisions or solve problems elegantly.

brightball 8y ago
Sorry, I probably need to re-word that. I didn't mean to suggest it that way. It was more of a reflection of being unwilling to ask team members for help and just depending on Google/SO for answers if you're stuck. I'll re-evaluate the wording there and get it corrected.
- monkeynotes 8y ago
  I would add that if engineers/developers are unwilling to ask team members for help you have a big problem with the team, likely a recruitment or culture/leadership problem, not just a project management problem. Teams work best together and to work together egos need to be checked at the door and people need to trust each other. Any problem on a team is the whole team's problem, and while one person may be accountable for introducing bugs, a good team will view that team mate as valued and capable and perhaps pitch in to mentor or help fix the problem quickly. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team obviously points out a lot of what I am talking about much more elegantly than I can. What I am saying is that project management can only go so far, team leadership, culture, and recruitment is also hugely important to fix many of the problems you identified in the article. Great article though, I shared it with my work-mates :)
WJW 8y ago
I can imagine that this is really tied to the confidence you already have. If you feel that you are a capable programmer then looking up something on Stack Overflow is just looking up something you kinda know but forgot. No big deal. For someone in the grip of impostor syndrome, it is admitting that you are indeed just faking it and don't know enough to 'deserve' your position. Now it is probably not true, but that does not matter for how people react to it...

brightball 8y ago

Sorry, I probably need to re-word that. I didn't mean to suggest it that way. It was more of a reflection of being unwilling to ask team members for help and just depending on Google/SO for answers if you're stuck. I'll re-evaluate the wording there and get it corrected.

monkeynotes 8y ago
I would add that if engineers/developers are unwilling to ask team members for help you have a big problem with the team, likely a recruitment or culture/leadership problem, not just a project management problem. Teams work best together and to work together egos need to be checked at the door and people need to trust each other. Any problem on a team is the whole team's problem, and while one person may be accountable for introducing bugs, a good team will view that team mate as valued and capable and perhaps pitch in to mentor or help fix the problem quickly. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team obviously points out a lot of what I am talking about much more elegantly than I can. What I am saying is that project management can only go so far, team leadership, culture, and recruitment is also hugely important to fix many of the problems you identified in the article. Great article though, I shared it with my work-mates :)

WJW 8y ago

I can imagine that this is really tied to the confidence you already have. If you feel that you are a capable programmer then looking up something on Stack Overflow is just looking up something you kinda know but forgot. No big deal. For someone in the grip of impostor syndrome, it is admitting that you are indeed just faking it and don't know enough to 'deserve' your position. Now it is probably not true, but that does not matter for how people react to it...