Why Won’t They Pair?

Do your developers and testers pair—and do it in the best ways? If you can answer yes, then you are among the fortunate ones who have a trusting environment where people have confidence in their work. Unfortunately, a large number of development shops don’t practice pairing in any form. Pair programing was documented in Kent Beck’s book eXtreme Programming Explained, published in 1999. So why is it that eighteen years later many developers and testers do not practice this simple yet effective programming technique? Linda Cook addresses many reasons that people don’t pair. Drawing on experiences in a handful of organizations and hundreds of teams, Linda examines the factors contributing to a general absence of pairing. Considerations include environmental concerns, organizational barriers, personal style, and experiences that all contribute to whether or not people practice pair programming and testing. Join Linda to examine the many benefits of pairing and the varied methods for pairing. This session includes a short activity where everyone gets an opportunity to pair using LEGOS.