Abstract: Mob-programming is a revolutionary technique for developing software. It's like pair programming with 6-7 team members in stead of two! Seems ridiculous, right? This is how extreme programming (XP) practices seem at first before they spread like wildfire!
In this report, I'll explain how we ran mob-programming sessions with four teams. I'll explain the setup we have selected, the types of tasks we were resolving, obstacles we faced, and my observations while facilitating the sessions. Also, I'll share some of the comparisons between mob-programming and solo-programming for sample tasks and the amount of effort/duration they consumed. Finally, there were hidden wastes (like integration, handoffs, misunderstandings, extra-features, etc.) in our process which were viewed by the team as usual work tasks or activities! Mob-programming opened our eyes to see these wastes and made us feel and quantify how much time it used to take us.
View the Experience Report Lessons Learned from Your Experience: - Mob-programming saves the hidden cost of integration, handoffs, misunderstandings, extra-features, etc. which amounts for a large percentage of team time (I would say more than 60%. At least, we witnessed 20-30% of team time spent on integration and resolving integration issues)
- Simple hints and partial solutions from team members accumulate and form an excellent overall solution and short-cuts
- Some tasks would have never been carried-out without mob-programming them
- It was fun! and joyful
- It may be impossible to work this way if we're working under pressure
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