Comments on: Working at OpenHatch: Extreme Programming, Simple Lifestyle

By: Max

Max — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:38:16 +0000

Thanks for this note; it gave me a better idea of what I want to look for in a career. This is the kind of workflow I would like to get into. I learned about paired programming a few years ago and forgot all about it until just now. Over the past couple years, I’ve grown a sort of instant-paralysis that strikes whenever I think about programming anything. Ironically, I’m a software engineer and this mindset has kept me from programming anything for fun. I think of myself as more of a wing-man. I like to write and I like to follow people. Ideally, I would like to watch somebody program while I document and confabulate ideas in parallel.

On that note, any superhero programmers out there who need a stenographic sidekick?

By: Rich

Rich — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:12:17 +0000

Good stuff, Parker! It sounds like you have a really good system, and it’s really useful information for people who don’t (like me).

By: Greg Grossmeier

Greg Grossmeier — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:31:51 +0000

I think this model of work production is wonderful.

When I worked with a 2 people on an Open Educational Resources project this past summer we would routinely work together on a problem during the day (think: Pair Wiki Editing, Pair Blog post writing, Pair Emailing…) and end up biking down to the river (half-mile away) for the post-work decompression with cheese/crackers and a drink. It wasn’t just that we had the river and the beer, it was that we had a chance to reflectively discuss the issues we were facing in a safe environment.

It is sad that I no longer work with those people, but they are still good friends. We might just have to go bike down to the river, drink a beer, eat some cheese, and talk about our respective jobs now instead of our shared ones.