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by dwc 3665 days ago
In my limited experience pair programming it usually went like, "How about if we combined these and frobbed before...aww, let me drive and I'll show you." Who had the keyboard might stay the same for hours, or might switch every 15 minutes, depending.
2 comments
obeka 3665 days ago
The person typing should not be driving. It's a bit hard to get to that point and we fail it a lot of times, but as a general rule the person sitting at the keyboard tries not to drive.

Also, if you are not the person currently at the keyboard, you are not allowed to just take over. We used strict time boxes at first to make sure that this didn't happen, these days we are a bit more relaxed since it isn't really an issue anymore.

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dwc 3663 days ago
Yeah, well, we did a lot of things our own way. We tried some things. Some of them stuck, some of them we adapted to suit us, and other things we dropped.

> The person typing should not be driving.

What's the reasoning behind this? My guess is that it's to prevent pair programming from turning into lone programming with an observer. If that's the case it wasn't a problem for our specific situation. No matter who had the keyboard, there was collaboration. Why separate the keyboard from the person who can fastest/best get the code on screen for consideration?

> Also, if you are not the person currently at the keyboard, you are not allowed to just take over. We used strict time boxes at first to make sure that this didn't happen

Why? Of course you shouldn't snatch the keyboard out of someone's hands, but such behavior should be addressed in other ways than by making rules. I suspect it's not that, but something else. Even so, I have to wonder if it's a social issue that would still be better addressed in other ways than by imposing rigid structure.

Anyway, switching when we wanted did not seem to pose any problems. If we missed out on some benefits then I'd like to know about them.

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icefox 3665 days ago
Or just plug in several usb keyboards and mice into one computer so everyone can type without switching chairs or handing the keyboard over.
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yoz-y 3665 days ago
From the photos it does look like they did just that.
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retbull 3663 days ago
that souInd s Hatlikee tthahtat a good idea.
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