Comments by "Mentat" (@_Mentat) on "You Must Be CRAZY To Do Pair Programming" video.

  1. I so agree. Agile itself is disastrous and very cultish, even using terms like ceremonies, rituals and artifacts. Middle managers and mediocre programmers who would otherwise be surplus to requirements cling to it like a drowning man on a log as it lets them piggyback off the abilities of others by all being "in the same team".
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  2. Classical painting and sculpting were done by "teams". But it was very much students serving the master. Students were like spare paint brushes. And they didn't get their name on the finished work; there was no question of equality. I will pair program, but unless you've got my 40+ years of experience, I type and I decide.
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  3. No, the mediocre partner is amazed at what "they" have produced. Someone else did the work and they share the credit.
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  4. It would literally be illegal for doctors. Doctors have personal legal liability for their decisions. They can solicit opinions and advice from colleagues, but when it all goes wrong only one of them is going to be gripping the rail in a courtroom. Much the same is true in shpping and aviation. The captain carries the can.
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  5.  @YvesHanoulle  True, but only one is going to jail if it goes wrong. The others are following his orders, however much a "team" effort it may seem to observers.
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  6. So true. OK for teaching but you're not going to do great work in a pair - the result will always be mediocre. The pair may pick up on typos but that benefit is not worth the distraction and the time you have to take explaining your thinking.
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  7.  @ContinuousDelivery  This morning I spent an hour explaining the 20 line routine on the screens in front of us (remote pair programming) could not possibly be the source of our bug because on no line did it touch the list that was wrong. It took 60 minutes for her to agree something that was instantly obvious to me. We tried to fix it but she was talking the whole time and I couldn't get my head around the query required so eventually I said I needed some private thinking time and coded a fix over lunch. It seems to work, on the build server now.
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  8. So true that. Anyone who thinks it is good wasn't there in the old days and doesn't know how it could be.
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  9. It's OK in small doses or for teaching. But I find there comes a time when I want to say to my pair: shut up I need to think and I can't do it with you prattling. I have said at times: sorry but I need peace and quiet to solve this, you'll have to drop off the call. It works OK with simple problems but you when need to build a mental edifice to solve the problem you need no distractions.
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