PairWith.Us: Software Cratsmanship by example - apparently...

In a previous post I introduced a project I'd started with my friend Andy Palmer.

We simply wanted to have a way of journalling our efforts on a new opensource project (don't try and download what's on the public repository - we're treating that as a spike and will be making the latest code available once our first story is complete). We decided that the best way to journal our efforts would be by recording a video of our development sessions.

We then thought that others might find it useful to see how we work and thought that we could get feedback from people so we could learn and grow... so decided to upload them for others to see. We felt it was important to upload the raw videos - no editing - so that people could learn from our mistakes as well as our solutions. Interestingly, by reviewing our videos we are learning from our mistakes too. It's no different to videoing yourself practice anything else. You see things that you didn't notice at the time (I'll blog more about that later).

So, we figured that if we were uploading the raw videos - why not let people join us live then they could take an active part. Kind of like "crowd-sourced pair programming" (you can find out when the next session will be via the #pairwithus hashtag on twitter).

This is now creating something of a buzz. Corey Haines (who recently completed a pair-programming tour of the US) and others started spreading the word. Even though we've only done 2 or 3 live broadcasts, we managed to attract several attendees (including Michael Feathers) to our most recent broadcast.

Something I hadn't considered was first brought to my attention by this tweet by Francesco Rizzi:

Software Craftsmanship is moving from talk to action. E.g.: http://pairwith.us/ #pairwithus

I then read this post by Jason gorman who said:

Co-operation does benefit from positive examples and role models to help inspire and show people how we can work together. And craftsmanship is definitely that sort of thing. I can watch Andy Palmer and Antony Marcano pair online and be inspired and educated by their example. They are not asserting shared values or ethics, necessarily. They're just showing us how they do it.

And...

I'm very positive and excited about the example Andy and Antony are setting. They're putting their money where their mouths are and daring - because it takes a small amount of nerve to expose yourself like this - to show us what really goes on when they program together.

Indeed it should take some nerve to expose oneself to the world in this way. We are showing people both our strengths and our weaknesses. But for me, it wasn't about having guts... it was about a desire to learn, and grow and help others to grow in the process, that completely overwhelmed any fear of showing people my imperfections. So much so that I actually felt no fear... I didn't even worry about my ego being dented by making silly mistakes so openly for people to comment on and flame. That isn't to say that it won't be dented if that happens... just that I don't fear it.

So yes, we are showing you what goes on when we program together... and we encourage feedback about what we do (mail us the dot guys at pairwith dot us). We want to learn. We want to get better at what we do... it's what drives us. And I suppose, because of that, it is a good example of what it means to be a software craftsman - a love for what we do, a passion for getting better at it and the courage to make feedback from you and everyone else a possibility! And maybe, you'll learn one or two things from us too... even if it's just how not to do certain things ;-)

I hope you enjoy pairwith.us/tv as much as we do. If you don't know what it's about... check out the pairwith.us trailer.

I'm looking forward to seeing you at one of our live sessions... I'll keep you updated via twitter.