RE: [xmlWiki-developers] meeting minutes from 3 Dec - project del iverables

[HEISTAD,CHRIS (A-USA,ex2) <chr...@ag...>]

Also:

We're really working on one PC for distributed xp. Except this PC is not in
a physically
accessable place for one half of the pair. We had the problem that my pair
wanted to see
what we had done earlier, but couldn't because it was not finished and we
could not
check it in. The only solutions are bad: check in bad stuff, leave computer
available (hacking threat), or else remember to always copy the source
before quitting work. My pair had to wait
for me to email the code to him and that is not efficient.

-> -----Original Message-----
-> From: Arnaldo Cavazos [mailto:ar...@mi...]
-> Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2001 2:51 PM
-> To: xml...@li...
-> Subject: Re: [xmlWiki-developers] meeting minutes from 3 Dec 
-> - project
-> deliverables
-> 
-> 
-> Chris,
->     This is a really terrific analysis.  I've had some of 
-> the exact same
-> problems.  I think that this is precisely the kind of stuff 
-> that Johnson
-> will be interested to see.
-> --Arnaldo
-> ----- Original Message -----
-> From: "HEISTAD,CHRIS (A-USA,ex2)" <chr...@ag...>
-> To: <xml...@li...>
-> Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2001 12:25 PM
-> Subject: RE: [xmlWiki-developers] meeting minutes from 3 Dec 
-> - project
-> deliverables
-> 
-> 
-> > Of possible use in the summary:
-> >
-> > Please note I was really trying hard to find negative 
-> things. I had a
-> really
-> > good
-> > experience with Hugo and everybody else I worked with.
-> >
-> > Things that made distributed xp hard for me.
-> >
-> > I can't gauge my pair. Normally I'd be in the office and talk with
-> someone.
-> > Take them
-> > out for coffee and learn about their experience. Doing 
-> this over the phone
-> > won't work.
-> > I don't know the strengths and weaknesses of my teammates 
-> and my pair.
-> >
-> > It is hard to explain why you're frustrated over the 
-> phone. You can't
-> gauge
-> > how your
-> > pair is going to react. Or if they are annoyed or not.
-> >
-> > The whole process kind of goes to hell when you get 
-> interrupted. I.e.
-> > bathroom.
-> > Laying down a phone just feels different than taking a 
-> walk in an office.
-> > You feel
-> > guilty, like someone is constantly waiting for you. And 
-> even if you have a
-> > cordless, taking
-> > it into the bathroom definently violates some protocol.
-> >
-> > Plus your wife(spouse) thinks you're not really
-> > doing anything 'up there by yourself' and tends to interrupt. This
-> wouldn't
-> > happen if my
-> > wife(spouse) knew someone else was physically in the 
-> house. Or out in
-> public
-> > people would
-> > tend not to interrupt when two people are sitting together 
-> and obviously
-> > working. But here
-> > you're by yourself and nobody can really see that you are 
-> working with
-> > someone else.
-> >
-> > The whole desktop sharing thing really bothered me. We constantly
-> interupted
-> > each other.
-> > It would have been much simpler to hand the keyboard back 
-> and forth. Then
-> > you would
-> > know exactly who was driving. It can be very frustrating 
-> trying to move
-> the
-> > pointer
-> > while someone else is trying to do the same. Even when you 
-> have a lock,
-> its
-> > a pain to
-> > constantly relase the lock. In person you can see the 
-> hands before the
-> keys
-> > are hit. You
-> > don't have this with a screen sharing program.
-> >
-> > It is really hard to learn something while in the 
-> distributed xp process.
-> I
-> > either found myself
-> > wondering why my partner was doing something. And asking 
-> made me feel like
-> I
-> > was inhibiting
-> > progress, again the impersonal phone. Or else I was 
-> driving with the pair
-> > telling me
-> > what to do. This isn't good either because I can't 
-> concentrate on what
-> > exactly why the
-> > pair is telling me to do something.
-> >
-> > It is a real pain to set up a call. In an office you can 
-> look over and see
-> > that someone is
-> > not busy. But with the phone, you call and maybe your pair 
-> is working on
-> > something and can't
-> > work immediately. Then you're supposed to call back. But 
-> you still don't
-> > know if they're
-> > ready. Definently the protocol should be that the busy 
-> pair has to call
-> > back.
-> >
-> > Everything seems more blunt when working through the 
-> phone. Just like
-> people
-> > are more terse in
-> > email, they seem more terse while working on the phone, 
-> but not as bad as
-> > email. Seems like the bluntness goes:
-> >
-> > in person (least blunt)
-> > phone
-> > email
-> > text chat
-> >
-> > Text chat does not really work for technical discussion. Technical
-> > discussion needs elaboration not tersness. Nobody wants to 
-> type alot. And
-> > the abbreviations are annoying. You never are sure what they mean.
-> >
-> > Its an effort to discuss ideas with teammates who are 
-> nonpairs. You have
-> to
-> > arrange it.
-> > You just can't see they are not busy and walk up and start 
-> talking. It is
-> > more of an
-> > effort to communicate with team members in distributed xp.
-> >
-> > It seems that there is the drive to make oneself available 
-> too much.
-> Because
-> > there is the idea
-> > that all you need is time and access to the internet. But 
-> it is probably
-> not
-> > appropriate to think that you can pair program at 
-> grandma's house over
-> > Thanksgiving. Even though grandma has a 1Ghz pc and a 
-> cable modem. Pair
-> > programming is best done at regular scheduled intervals. I
-> > had the opposite problem. We had people over for 
-> thanksgiving and I was
-> > tempted too much to
-> > try to set something up. It just didn't work. We had 
-> people over and I was
-> > pre-occupied. Its better to just forget about it.
-> >
-> > There is also the temptation to read documentation or 
-> something while your
-> > pair is writing code or doing something else. The pair 
-> that is hosting the
-> > shared session can't see what you are doing anyhow. This 
-> kind of destroys
-> > the whole motiviation for pair programming. So unless 
-> there is some kind
-> of
-> > technology to share both desktops or lock the screens 
-> together in some
-> type
-> > of bidirectional way, you really don't know if you're pair 
-> programming or
-> > not.
-> >
-> > Having a phone headset as opposed to using the handset is 
-> mandatory for
-> any
-> > distributed XP'r.
-> > I used a handset and it really made my neck sore. No the 
-> speaker phone
-> > doesn't work well either. Don't even try a cellphone 
-> without a headset. My
-> > pair had to set the cellphone down when typing. It 
-> inhibits the work flow,
-> > you can't talk and type at the same time. And when you are 
-> typing you get
-> > the best ideas. But we did the best with what we had and 
-> did make alot of
-> > progress. It just wasn't as good as it could have been.
-> >
-> > Since you're using a phone you really cannot listen to music as it
-> > interferes with the phone and annoys your pair. This is a 
-> big deal for me.
-> > Phone resolution is much lower than cd resolution. So even 
-> if your pair
-> > likes the same type of music, it just doesn't work.
-> >
-> >
-> >
-> >
-> > _______________________________________________
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-> > xml...@li...
-> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/xmlwiki-developers
-> 
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