“What one programmer can do in one month, two programmers can do in two months.” Fred Brooks
Many people think that programming can be easily and highly parallelized. However, when developers are working on the same project, this methodology only works to some extent. Of course, certain components can be developed independently, but there are also often dependencies between the modules to be programmed. In agile sprints in particular, the question arises as to what extent a high degree of parallelization makes sense, since the intention here is to deliberately create a common goal and product increment.
Extreme Programming (XP) has evolved into the methodology of Pair Programming, which is now frequently used in agile software projects. Here, two developers work simultaneously on one task at one workstation and program together. One of the developers writes the code (“Driver”), and the other developer controls the code, gives feedback and actively thinks about the problem (“Navigator”). These rolls are then rotated one by one.
Studies have shown that this only minimally increases development costs, because the “four-eyes principle” allows errors to be detected and corrected much earlier. In practice, therefore, pair programming can achieve the following advantages, among others:
- low error rate,
- Cooperation and communication within the team is strengthened,
- Code quality increases,
- problems can be better solved through joint exchange,
- Knowledge is shared. A continuation of pair programming is the so-called mob programming. Here, an entire team – the “mob” – works on a coding task, whereby, as in pair programming, there is a driver who sits at the workstation and enters the code. The other members jointly assume the role of navigator, develop solution proposals and discuss with each other. However, Mob Programming also recognizes other roles, so that in addition to the Driver and Navigator, the following roles can also be filled:
- Designated Navigator: Moderates the discussions of the other navigators, collects suggestions and decides when the suggestions diverge
- Researcher: Takes on research tasks that may be helpful in solving the task at hand
- Learner: Participates primarily to learn and actively inquire as part of the group
- Timekeeper: Monitors the time and takes care of the role changeIn addition to the advantages from Pair Programming, Mob Programming also strengthens the team bond, since even more members are involved.
