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I prefer pairing up. Giving feedback on code that has already been written, and by more junior member of the team, is fraught with problems. People get defensiv

I prefer pairing up. Giving feedback on code that has already been written, and by more junior member of the team, is fraught with problems. People get defensive thinking they have already completed the task and now I am delaying the closure. It is much easier to share friendly hints and observations while writing the code. When the code is written it is difficult to show how it could have looked or demonstrate the process of getting there. And so even though my org requires us to conduct code reviews (and I find them helpful, at a hefty cost), I will still ask people to pair up with me regularly. This to get to know the person better, to see what the problem is (and sometimes I am the problem), to help work out better design, etc. All of which is difficult with regular review.

chihuahua 6y ago
For a while I worked on a team where we wrote all code in pairs. The team room had 4 computers, each of which had 2 pairs of 2 monitors and 2 mice and 2 keyboards. During the day, every hour or so, each dev would switch between driver and passenger roles. It was a great way to work, because junior people could get up to speed quickly, and it was much less likely that would would get stuck on any problem. As a bonus, we didn't need code reviews because every line of code had already been seen (and if necessary, critiqued) by another person. One drawback was that you could not start working until your partner for the day arrived, and you'd have to stop working when the first person of a pair left for the day. I'm not sure how this way of working pays off during the annual performance reviews, I didn't stick around long enough to find out.
BobbyJo 6y ago
I am all for pairing up and interacting with people directly and in a human manner. It's good for building rapport and trust so that things run smoother in every facet. That being said, I think impersonal reviews are still needed. You don't always have time for the soft human touch, especially at a smaller startup. The defensiveness some people have should really only ever be a short term problem. I've worked with people like that and found that being persistent, objective (follow standards that you make everyone aware of) and consistent with reviews fixed that over time. Rapport building is good , but you can't require it every time, so you need the other end of the spectrum too.

chihuahua 6y ago

For a while I worked on a team where we wrote all code in pairs. The team room had 4 computers, each of which had 2 pairs of 2 monitors and 2 mice and 2 keyboards. During the day, every hour or so, each dev would switch between driver and passenger roles. It was a great way to work, because junior people could get up to speed quickly, and it was much less likely that would would get stuck on any problem. As a bonus, we didn't need code reviews because every line of code had already been seen (and if necessary, critiqued) by another person. One drawback was that you could not start working until your partner for the day arrived, and you'd have to stop working when the first person of a pair left for the day. I'm not sure how this way of working pays off during the annual performance reviews, I didn't stick around long enough to find out.

BobbyJo 6y ago

I am all for pairing up and interacting with people directly and in a human manner. It's good for building rapport and trust so that things run smoother in every facet. That being said, I think impersonal reviews are still needed. You don't always have time for the soft human touch, especially at a smaller startup. The defensiveness some people have should really only ever be a short term problem. I've worked with people like that and found that being persistent, objective (follow standards that you make everyone aware of) and consistent with reviews fixed that over time. Rapport building is good , but you can't require it every time, so you need the other end of the spectrum too.