Pair Programming With Small Teams

Problem:

Sometimes you end up with a team with a odd number of programmers. ExtremeProgramming says that only pairs write production code. What do we do to fix the situation? (Note: this problem is magnified when you have a small, odd number: 3 or 5.)

Solutions:

• Hire another programmer.
• The extra person can learn something new, including: SpikeSolutions, reading books, web browsing, etc.
• The extra person can act as a ProjectSaboteur.
• The extra person can translate customer acceptance tests into code.
• PairProgrammingPlusPlus -- a team of three.
• Fudge on the PairProgramming rule, maybe via GuruDoesAll. This voids your XP Warranty, though, so try to remain extra aware of any problems that arise.

Switch pairs rapidly to minimize the duration of the above for any one person. (Note: Switching pairs often is encouraged anyway.)

Contributors: PrestonRickwood, SunirShah, WikiGnomes

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TODO: Pick a more descriptive name for this page and move it there. How about:

• PairProgrammingExtraProgrammer??
• PairOfThree? (Well, might not be bad, except that it isn't encompassing enough, and that it is sort of taken by "PairProgrammingPlusPlus".)
• PairPlusOne?
• ...?

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CategoryPairProgramming