Table of Links Abstract and I. Introduction Abstract and I. Introduction II. Related Work A. On the Existence of Pair Programming Skill A. On the Existence of Pair Programming Skill B. On the Elements of Pair Programming Skill B. On the Elements of Pair Programming Skill III. Research Method A. Research Goal and Data Collection A. Research Goal and Data Collection B. Qualitative Research Approach B. Qualitative Research Approach C. Our Notions of ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ C. Our Notions of ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ IV. Results A. Two Elements of Pair Programming Skill A. Two Elements of Pair Programming Skill B. Anti-Pattern: Getting Lost in the Weeds B. Anti-Pattern: Getting Lost in the Weeds C. Anti-Pattern: Losing the Partner C. Anti-Pattern: Losing the Partner D. Anti-Pattern: Drowning the Partner D. Anti-Pattern: Drowning the Partner E. Doing the Right Thing and F. Further Elements of Pair Programming Skill E. Doing the Right Thing and F. Further Elements of Pair Programming Skill V. Discussion V. Discussion VI. Summary and Future Work VI. Summary and Future Work VII. Data Availability and References VII. Data Availability and References Abstract—Background: Pair programming (PP) can have many benefits in industry. Researchers and practitioners recognize that successful and productive PP involves some skill that might take time to learn and improve. Abstract—Background: Pair programming (PP) can have many benefits in industry. Researchers and practitioners recognize that successful and productive PP involves some skill that might take time to learn and improve. Abstract—Background: Question: What are the elements of pair programming skill? Question: What are the elements of pair programming skill? Question Method: We perform qualitative analyses of industrial pair programming sessions following the Grounded Theory Methodology. We look for patterns of problematic behavior to conceptualize key elements of what ‘good’ and ‘bad’ pairs do differently. Method: We perform qualitative analyses of industrial pair programming sessions following the Grounded Theory Methodology. We look for patterns of problematic behavior to conceptualize key elements of what ‘good’ and ‘bad’ pairs do differently. Method Results: Here, we report two elements of pair programming skill: Good pairs (1) manage to maintain their Togetherness and (2) keep an eye on their session’s Expediency. We identify three problematic behavioral patterns that affect one or both of these elements: Getting Lost in the Weeds, Losing the Partner, and Drowning the Partner. Results: Here, we report two elements of pair programming skill: Good pairs (1) manage to maintain their Togetherness and (2) keep an eye on their session’s Expediency. We identify three problematic behavioral patterns that affect one or both of these elements: Getting Lost in the Weeds, Losing the Partner, and Drowning the Partner. Results Togetherness Expediency Getting Lost in the Weeds, Losing the Partner Drowning the Partner. Conclusion: Pair programming skill is separate from general software development skill. Years of PP experience are neither a prerequisite nor sufficient for successful pair programming. Conclusion: Pair programming skill is separate from general software development skill. Years of PP experience are neither a prerequisite nor sufficient for successful pair programming. Conclusion I. INTRODUCTION Pair programming (PP) is the practice of two software developers working closely together on one machine. Kent Beck characterizes it as “a dialog between two people trying to [...] program (and analyze and design and test)” which “is a subtle skill, one that you can spend the rest of your life getting good at” [2, p. 100]. Beck sees many benefits in this practice, such as higher code quality in less time [2, pp. 66–67]. He does not, however, elaborate on the aspects of the “skill” underlying these benefits; he merely alludes to the importance of communication and coordination [2, p. 141]. Pair programming “a dialog between two people trying to [...] program (and analyze and design and test)” “is a subtle skill, one that you can spend the rest of your life getting good at” communication coordination Much of pair programming research appears to be built on the assumption that PP does not involve any particular skill beyond general software development experience: A large experiment by Arisholm et al. [1], for instance, was set to determine PP’s effect on code quality and effort for junior, intermediate, and expert developers, but 93 of its 98 subject pairs had no prior pairing experience at all. A meta-analysis of PP effectiveness [7] later found only weak effects and high between-study variance, which indicates a number of not-understood (and hence uncontrolled) moderating factors including the “amount of training in pair programming” [7, Sec. 4], which the researchers expect to have a positive effect on pair performance. not no prior pairing experience at all. “amount of training in pair programming” To understand the differences between skillful and problematic pair programming, we perform qualitative analyses of industrial PP sessions. Here, we report two elements of PP skill we identified. We discuss related work in Section II, characterize our data and explain our research method in Section III, sketch our findings in Section IV, and provide a discussion and an outlook in Sections V and VI. PP skill This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. available on arxiv available on arxiv Authors:
(1) Franz Zieris, Institut fur Informatik, Freie Universitat, Berlin Berlin, Germany (zieris@inf.fu-berlin.de);
(2) Lutz Prechelt, Institut fur Informatik. Freie Universitat Berlin, Berlin, Germany (prechelt@inf.fu-berlin.de). Authors: Authors: (1) Franz Zieris, Institut fur Informatik, Freie Universitat, Berlin Berlin, Germany (zieris@inf.fu-berlin.de); (2) Lutz Prechelt, Institut fur Informatik. Freie Universitat Berlin, Berlin, Germany (prechelt@inf.fu-berlin.de).

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Avoiding The Pitfalls: How Good Pairs Overcome Problematic Behaviors

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