Mob Programming: Whole Team Collaboration

Picwell • October 26, 2018 • Philadelphia, PA

Here you will find all of the material referenced in the Mob Programming talk, as well as additional resources to continue learning about mob programming.

Slide Deck

A Whole Team Approach

We would recommend starting with Woody Zuill’s Agile Alliance 2014 Experience Report, Mob Programming - A Whole Team Approach. In this report Woody explains how his team at Hunter Industries achieved a ten times productivity improvement from mob programming.

Programming Is Mostly Thinking

Tim Ottinger’s article Programming is Mostly Thinking is another recommended article where he describes that 1/12th of software development is typing, which helps to explain how mob programming can yield such improvements in productivity described by Woody Zuill.

Lean Software Development

We reference Lean Software Development several times in our talk. It’s worthwhile to take a look at the wikipedia page on Lean Software Development. It will explain, among other things, the eight forms of waste from lean and how they are applied to software development. Additionally, I’d recommend reading Mary and Tom Poppendieck’s book, Lean Software Development. It’s teeming with insights about creating great software development teams.

Mobster

We recommend getting started with the mob programming tool mobster.

Disciplined Break Taking

The Pomodoro Technique

We talk about disciplined break taking as an important aspect of mob programming. Mob Programming incorporates the Pomodoro Technique to encourage disciplined break taking. The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. The technique uses a timer to break down work intervals, traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks.

The intervals are named pomodoros the plural (in English) of the Italian word for tomato, named after the tomato-shaped kitchen timer.

Importance of Disciplined Breaks

Tim Ottinger has written an excellent article about the importance of disciplined breaks in software development. Take a look at, Taking Breaks in a Disciplined Way.

Time-Lapse Videos

A Day of Mob Programming 2012

Hunter Industries Mob Programming video from 2012

A Day of Mob Programming 2016

Hunter Industries Mob Programming video from 2016. Catch up with the development teams at Hunter Industries to see how practice adoption has changed at the company after four years.

Effective Practices

Take a look at the article I wrote about mob programming practices to continue improving and adapting your mob programming sessions, Practices for Effective Mob Programming.

Pluralsight’s Mob Programming

We mentioned Pluralsight’s mob proramming practices during the talk. You can read an article about it on their technical blog here.

Industrial Logic’s Mob Programming Cheat Sheet

Industrial Logic has a mob programming cheat sheet available.

Do you have questions about the talk or Mob Programming in general? Or maybe just want to chat with us? The best way to get in touch with us is on twitter. Feel free to contact me (@asciamanna) or Nick (@ngoede) there.

PhillyXP

Nick and I are the founders and organizers of the PhillyXP user group. We encourage you to join our group here on meetup.