double shot pair programming

This crappy image shows the work environment we now used for the second day. Pair programming, double shot flavor. Two developers, one machine, but two keyboard attached.

I started this as a hoax more or less, since I don’t like my pair partners’s ultra-flat Apple keyboard and he kind of doesn’t appreciate my obviously superior Das Keyboard. I didn’t really make up my mind about working with two keyboards to gain an advantage. But as it turns out, it is a huge leap ahead in coding comfort.

What the sources about pair programming I have found so far usually depict as the key benefit of this technique, is the opportunity of switching between driver and navigator. It might seem to be a negligible change, but adding the second keyboard felt significantly different to me (and that’s not just because the new keyboard is my obviously superior Das Keyboard).

The rule is to switch roles whenever the pair gets the impression that switching roles would increase productivity. Sounds great in theory. In practice, the question of to switch or not to switch is really a question of convenience. If you have to rearrange the keyboard or even swap chair positions with your pair mate, this could be the tiny thing that keeps you from switching and therefore from balancing the pair.

Maybe this is due to my obsession with my obviously superior Das Keyboard, but I think making switches between pair programming participants as painless and as convenient as possible is that really does improve the experience.