4 ms·

I'll jump on this completely out of context and say that if I'm ever forced to work with another human being permanently glued to my side, watching my every mov

I'll jump on this completely out of context and say that if I'm ever forced to work with another human being permanently glued to my side, watching my every move, and requiring constant maintenance in terms of explanation and synchronized breaks, I'll happily resign on the spot. Programming is an intensely internal task, usually performed by introverted people. Forcing them into this kind of setup should be counted as torture. Before you disagree, consider how many other professions have pair-working in any shape or form. Is there any pair-management going on? How about pair-assembly line working? Yes, multiple people work on an assembly line - but they are performing different tasks, not just checking up on each other in real time, 8 hours per day! People work in teams, I get that, and it requires interaction between team members. But name me one team where there are two people permanently assigned to literally the same task, with no goals other than 'improving efficiency'. It's just amazing that anyone would put up with that.

FeepingCreature 5y ago
Oh no, permanent pair programming is insanity, it's just really effective for onboarding. I assume assembly line workers also pair work while the new worker is getting up to speed. At any rate, the more you're working in a large team, the less your programming should be "an intensely personal task". We have style guides for a reason...
- zeisss 5y ago
  +1 for doing this for onboarding / knowledge sharing or just brainstorming possible solutions to a problem. But do it with a clear timebox (maybe 1-2h) and breaks in between. Having to do this longer (like a whole day, even with breaks etc) would drive me nuts as well. Sometimes I just need to stare at the code for a while or draw pretty boxes with arrows on a piece of paper (kind of hard to share in a remote setting).
  - FeepingCreature 5y ago
    Yeah definitely.
- agent327 5y ago
  I said "intensely internal", not "intensely personal". If you think the only thing that programmers do is typing out code without any thought, you have very badly misunderstood the profession.
  - FeepingCreature 5y ago
    Sorry, I misread you. Yeah it's strongly a matter of time and place, but in the right time and place, pairing can be excellent.

FeepingCreature 5y ago

Oh no, permanent pair programming is insanity, it's just really effective for onboarding. I assume assembly line workers also pair work while the new worker is getting up to speed. At any rate, the more you're working in a large team, the less your programming should be "an intensely personal task". We have style guides for a reason...

zeisss 5y ago
+1 for doing this for onboarding / knowledge sharing or just brainstorming possible solutions to a problem. But do it with a clear timebox (maybe 1-2h) and breaks in between. Having to do this longer (like a whole day, even with breaks etc) would drive me nuts as well. Sometimes I just need to stare at the code for a while or draw pretty boxes with arrows on a piece of paper (kind of hard to share in a remote setting).
- FeepingCreature 5y ago
  Yeah definitely.
agent327 5y ago
I said "intensely internal", not "intensely personal". If you think the only thing that programmers do is typing out code without any thought, you have very badly misunderstood the profession.
- FeepingCreature 5y ago
  Sorry, I misread you. Yeah it's strongly a matter of time and place, but in the right time and place, pairing can be excellent.