Ramp-up pair programming

This post is part of 101 ideas for agile teams.

Context

The team wants to practice pair programming, but struggles to get into it. There never seems to be the right time for it.

Action

In order to get used to pair program, the team plans for pair programming at the Daily Scrum. At the Daily Scrum the team assigns pairs.

Hang a matrix showing all combinations of all team members onto the Scrum Board (names of all team members as columns and rows). Every time a pair did pair programming, note it in the matrix.

To get pair programming running: Write the number of hours in the cell for the pair. Set a weekly goal to achieve (e.g. 4 hours per team member).

To distribute knowledge: set a personal focus on a topic, pair with specialists in the area, note steps in progress in the matrix.

What you gain

Social pressure to do pair programming.

Daily reminder to practice pair programming.

Makes transparent who pair programs with whom. Helps that everyone pair programs with several team members and not always with the same.

How to strengthen

Coding Dojos (exercise pair programming).

Risks

The pressure leads to the feeling of “having-to” and results in badly executed pair programming.

More ideas at 101 ideas for agile teams

Many thanks to bbv Software Services for making this blog post possible.