[DanielBMarkham]

I've participated once or twice and watched mob programming a bunch of times. Here's some feedback, for what it's worth.

- Thinking aloud lets you solve problems in parallel, rather than sequentially. But if you're still hung up on something, you're free to be quiet and think, or think later

- If it's an ego fight, you've lost no matter how you code. Better to get it out in the open and deal with it. (And perhaps let the person go)

- I think personal space/time depends on the team, as it should. I have the opposite problem: I get bored and drift off online. I find other people in the room help me get back on track

- Nope. Actually that's the beauty of mob programming. Everybody is up to speed all of the time. It eliminates bringing people up to speed.

I think there are edge cases, one of which is bad teams, ie, bad mixes of people. But mob programming doesn't cause that. It might point it out a lot quicker, though. There are other edge cases, but the industry is still working through those.

The problem that mob programming solves is one that a heckuva lot of programmers don't even know exists: over-specialization in technology development.

[SCdF]

> If it's an ego fight, you've lost no matter how you code. Better to get it out in the open and deal with it. (And perhaps let the person go)

I know what you mean, but "you've lost" is a bit too final for me. Obviously ideally you would never have these people, but in reality you may do, and as that's not the only quality you're judging them on letting them go might be a little harsh.

What I'm talking about is the idea of maybe a quiet developer trying something a little different, and having that good dna making it into the code-base. If you have a group of people who nearly all believe that mocking is a good idea, but someone would like to try refactoring so you don't even _need_ mocking, then I'd worry that in mob programming you'd never have that attempted.

Or perhaps everyone would be really open to that and because everyone is in a group more of those ideas would surface, and more different ideas and approaches would make it into the codebase.

I honestly don't know which of those two situations would occur, and maybe it's up to the team. I'd be really worried about the former, though maybe that says more about my background, who I am and the teams I've worked in though :-/

[DanielBMarkham]

I exaggerated to make a point. Of course you'd work with folks. Apologies for the hyperbole.

You have a good point, but consider this: the team is in the hook for whatever the code is anyway, whether there are disagreements or not. So the real question is whether or not you surface those disagreements (or bury them, in your example), or simply don't address them at all.

I'm thinking you surface them, even if the herd mentality moves in the wrong direction. Unfortunately, unless you can deliver the entire thing on your own, social skills count as much as technical skills. The bigger the team and the more people think "that's not my job", the more the team norming becomes more important than the implementation details.

Or -- to continue with the hyperbole -- if you get it wrong, and you all get it wrong? You did your best. If you do a great job and the team flops? The guy paying the bill isn't going to be so happy with "Yeah, but if they had only listened to me...." Your job is to make the team/project succeed, not be the best coder.

Mobbing is still in the hype cycle. I remain wary, but cautiously enthusiastic. It'll probably be another 2-3 years before all the warts come out.

[SCdF]

Hey no worries, your perspective (as a breathing human who's actually done this before, whereas I'm very much being a couch referee or whatever that phrase is) is really interesting.

I think it's a cool idea. I'd still worry about people taking over, coasting, checking out or otherwise not getting to express themselves, but realistically that's a constant concern anyway, regardless of whichever development structure you take.

But I'd try it. I'd be exhausted, frustrated and very much in need of a drink after the first day, but that says more about me than it does the approach :-)

[DanielBMarkham]

So the really cool question is this: if mobbing can bring a room full of BAs, testers, biz folks, and designers up to speed on the technical details of implementation (which it can), how far does that go? Could you take, say, two really good developers and five smart and enthusiastic people from the street and end up with a good team?

Beats me. But I really want to try :)