We caught up with Jerome Painter, a Software Engineer here at BGL Tech, to talk about the advantages of approaching tasks using the mobbing vs. pair programming technique.
Mobbing definition:
Mob programming is a software development approach where the whole team works on the same thing, at the same time, in the same space, and at the same computer.
With mob programming, the collaboration is extended to everyone in the team, while still using a single computer for writing the code and inputting it into the code base.
Pair programming definition:
Two people sit at the same computer and collaborate on the same code at the same time.
So what’s the best approach?
When it comes to software development, how we approach a task as a team is paramount to its success.
So, pair programming can work well in certain circumstances. The pair can work together reviewing as they go, further improving development and dealing with issues one-on-one. That being said, some pairs don’t click and best practice can be subjective, leading to complex problems.
Mobbing, on the other hand, builds on principles of lean manufacturing, extreme programming, and lean software development. In addition to software coding, a mob programming team can work together to do almost all the work a typical software development team tackles, such as defining user stories or requirements, designing, testing, deploying software, and working with the customer and business experts.
Almost all work is handled in working meetings or workshops, and all the people involved in creating the software are considered to be team members, including the customer and business experts. Mob programming also works for distributed teams in the same virtual space using screen sharing.
This can work against the technique though, as sometimes it can take longer to do a simpler task, as lots of different opinions can cause a debate over the way to do something. Resources are shrunk to make larger teams and development can be halted as people can feel rushed of pressured to do things a certain way.
The great thing about BGL Tech is whether you prefer pair programming or mobbing, we support both practices. We use creativity to evolve and identify the best solutions for the task in hand.
