Personal Space

PersonalSpace is the region surrounding each person, which, if entered by another person without this being desired, makes one feel uncomfortable.

What distance is appropriate for a particular social situation depends on culture, family background (size, affluence and personalities) and personal preference. People may feel uncomfortable if the distance is too large (cold) or too small (intrusive).

PersonalSpace is highly variable. Those who live in a densely populated environment tend to have smaller PersonalSpace requirements. Thus, a resident of NewYorkCity might have a smaller PersonalSpace that someone of similar social background living in Montana.

It can also be heavily affected by a person's position in society, with a more affluent person expecting a larger personal space.

People can be noticeably stressed when their PersonalSpace is invaded. Intrusion on one?s PersonalSpace may result from limited available space, different standards, or rudeness.

On the other hand, some activities can also make you extend your PersonalSpace. This effect can be observed in ritual dancing, soccer fans celebrating their team's success.

While it is highly variable and difficult to measure accurately, the best estimates place it at about sixty centimeters on either side, seventy centimeters in front and forty behind for an average westerner, or as a general rule of thumb, an area around your body that is about an arm's length.

Programmers have additional PersonalSpace, like their emacs setup or their desktop wallpaper. Any employee may feel their PersonalSpace extends to their desk drawers (or maybe just one of them). (One could make a subtle distinction between PrivateProperty?, as this could be argued to be, and PersonalSpace.)

A driver's PersonalSpace extends some meters around their car. This seems to be stretching the definition. The reasons for keeping a safe distance away on the road may be completely unemotional and unrelated to one?s social background etc..

Introducing PairProgramming may intrude on the PersonalSpace of programmers.

Some programmers are stressed, others just love it. Why? For some, the other programmer is just a stranger in their PersonalSpace. However when they recognize the other programmer as a team partner, she is someone who is welcome in their space. They can extend their space to cover the whole team, sharing experiences.

How can I achieve the team-feeling instead of that "stranger" feeling? ....

Answers:

Some observations:

Partner sitting behind or skewed: She doesn't want to intrude on other's PersonalSpace. She either sees the other one as not being part of the team or fears to be seen as an intruder.

Partner not taking the keyboard: as above, but here not because of the physical zone but the intellectual one.

Reluctant Pair Programmer: doesn't feel being part of the team (sometimes language/culture problems)

Partner shooing away: She still needs her PersonalSpace. Pass the keyboard, make sure it has a short cable. Stay where you are. Let her approach.

External Reviewer: An intruder touching team area. Certainly not part of the team. Hard to deal with in any constructive way. Store away all hard metal appliances.

Consider that those who are naturally more introverted would find PairProgramming more intrusive and uncomfortable, while those who are naturally more extroverted would find PairProgramming and other social aspects of programming more invigorating. As someone is naturally more introverted, I have found PairProgramming effective but draining. And since I have so much experience and skill, mostly I am the mentor in that pair, and thus find myself less productive. But I certainly understand how PairProgramming can help less experienced people, and would appeal to extroverts.

The real problem is that managers tend to be extroverts, and thus unable to understand how cubicles, distractions, invasions of PersonalSpace, PairProgramming, shared workspaces, and large work areas and all the other distractions debilitate introverts (and since many programmers are introverts, they harm productivity -- note that since aspects of programming are quite solo/introverted, there are benefits to appealing to introverts). CubeFarm 's and large work areas depersonalize the space. -- ChuckCottrill