

Mashion's Pairing Rig - matschaffer
http://matschaffer.com/2012/07/mashion-pairing-rig/

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huhtenberg
I wonder how many teams have pair programming engraved into the workflow. As
in "for at least a year." I tried it more than once, on different projects
with different people and it universally sucked. To say that I hate it with
passion is an understatement. Perhaps it was because the language was C or
because the routine was instigated by a clueless management, but still... in
what conditions does it actually work?

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trotter_cashion
I've found pairing to be very useful when I don't know the stack or codebase
all that well. It can certainly be frustrating though when the two people in
the pair have extremely mismatched skill levels and are working against a
deadline.

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huhtenberg
That's not a pair _programming_ though. It's just one person teaching another
whatever there needs to be taught.

~~~
ryanong
That is pair programming though. The point is to get the other user up to
speed so they can contribute more to the project.

I like to think of knowledge as a resource with compound interest for the
individual and especially for the company. Knowledge is built on what you
already know and the more you learn the more ideas and knowledge you can
generate. Teaching another is the key principle of pairing. If done correctly
somebody should always be learning and teaching.

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scottyallen
Isn't this the same setup that pivotal has been using for a few years now?

They have a bunch of details in a 2010 blog post here:

[http://pivotallabs.com/users/jsusser/blog/articles/1505-pair...](http://pivotallabs.com/users/jsusser/blog/articles/1505-pairing-
tete-a-tete)

~~~
trotter_cashion
It's pretty close, but it has a few improvements. For starters, the Pivotal
setup used Ikea Galant desks, which are a bit large. Instead of needing to cut
that in two, we've got two Galant extensions. This eliminates the need for the
desk staggering pattern shown in the pivotal post.

Second, the pivotal setup is based around an iMac with a second screen. We've
found this somewhat odd as everyone has their own laptop. Therefore, this
setup is driven from a laptop with the key addition of an hdmi splitter to
make driving two screens from the laptop cost effective.

~~~
bascule
Given the extreme similarities, wouldn't it have been worthwhile to point out
the similarities and differences to the Pivotal setup in the article, rather
than adding them retroactively in the HN comments?

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danso
Depending on how sensitive you are to peripheral stimuli (which is generally
oversensitive thanks to evolution), this setup seems like it'd make you
distracted with the movements of your partner's head.

