Distributed-Pair Programming can work well and is not just Distributed Pair-Programming

Background: Distributed Pair Programming can be performed via screensharing or via a distributed IDE. The latter offers the freedom of concurrent editing (which may be helpful or damaging) and has even more awareness deficits than screen sharing. Objective: Characterize how competent distributed pair programmers may handle this additional freedom and these additional awareness deficits and characterize the impacts on the pair programming process. Method: A revelatory case study, based on direct observation of a single, highly competent distributed pair of industrial software developers during a 3-day collaboration. We use recordings of these sessions and conceptualize the phenomena seen. Results: 1. Skilled pairs may bridge the awareness deficits without visible obstruction of the overall process. 2. Skilled pairs may use the additional editing freedom in a useful limited fashion, resulting in potentially better fluency of the process than local pair programming. Conclusion: When applied skillfully in an appropriate context, distributed-pair programming can (not will!) work at least as well as local pair programming

Pair Programming Practiced in Hybrid Work

Pair programming (PP) has been a widespread practice for decades and is known for facilitating knowledge exchange and improving the quality of software. Many agilists advocated the importance of collocation, face-to-face interaction, and physical artifacts incorporated in the shared workspace when pairing. After a long period of forced work-from-home, many knowledge workers prefer to work remotely two or three days per week, which is affecting practices such as PP. In this revelatory single-case study, we aimed to understand how PP is practiced during hybrid work when team members alternate between on-site days and working from home. We collected qualitative and quantitative data through 11 semi-structured interviews, observations, feedback sessions, and self-reported surveys. The interviewees were members of an agile software development team in a Norwegian fintech company. The results presented in this paper indicate that PP can be practiced through on-site, remote, and mixed sessions, where the mixed mode seems to be the least advantageous. The findings highlight the importance of adapting the work environment to suit individual work mode preferences when it comes to PP. In the future, we will build on these findings to explore PP in other teams and organizations practicing hybrid work

Marco para la asignación de paquetes de trabajo en entornos de desarrollo global de software

En el ámbito de las tecnologías de la información y las comunicaciones, la externalización por offshoring es una práctica consistente en la distribución de trabajo a centros de producción más allá de las fronteras de un determinado país. Esta práctica, unida al fenómeno de la globalización, ha transformado profundamente los procesos de la ingeniería del software y ha dado lugar a un paradigma denominado GSD (Global Software Development). En este paradigma los ingenieros y los equipos de desarrollo se encuentran geográficamente distribuidos por el planeta y utilizan tecnologías y herramientas colaborativas para la producción del software. Más allá de los aspectos beneficiosos y perjudiciales de este paradigma, del estudio de la literatura relacionada se puede concluir que, para mejorar el rendimiento en proyectos GSD, es necesario contar con herramientas de gestión maduras que tengan en consideración todas las fuerzas presentes en este tipo de proyectos. Una de las actividades iniciales de la gestión de proyectos GSD es la asignación de paquetes de trabajo. Esta actividad tiene un importante impacto en el desarrollo posterior del proyecto y conlleva la toma de decisiones complejas. Por ello, esta tesis doctoral está dirigida a proporcionar a los gestores de proyectos GSD un marco metodológico para la asignación de paquetes de trabajo. La resolución del problema se ha abordado a través de un enfoque multidisciplinar prestando especial atención a aspectos no directamente relacionados con la ingeniería del software, como son la gestión competencial y la gestión de la interculturalidad. La solución planteada proporciona un marco para la asignación de paquetes de trabajo en proyectos GSD, que es adaptable a las peculiaridades de cada organización o proyecto y que proporciona las métricas adecuadas para la evaluación de los factores implicados en dicha asignación. Para el desarrollo de esta tesis se ha definido una metodología de investigación sólida e integral, que ha incluido el análisis sistemático de la literatura relevante y la integración de metodología cuantitativa y cualitativa. La última fase del diseño de investigación consiste en una validación empírica del marco diseñado para verificar la utilidad del mismo. Los datos obtenidos de dicha validación indican que la utilización del marco para la asignación de paquetes de trabajo en entornos GSD contribuye a una mejora en dicho proceso. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In the area of information technology services and development, offshoring outsourcing is the practice of distributing work to workers outside the national borders of the host country. This practice, together with the globalization phenomenon, has deeply transformed the software engineering processes and has led to a paradigm named GSD (Global Software Development). GSD teams are geographically distributed teams which make use of collaborative technologies and tools to produce software. In addition to the positive and negative aspects of this paradigm, the study of the literature indicates that the success of GSD projects requires mature management tools that take into consideration all the forces interacting within such environments. One of the activities in the initial phases of a GSD project is the allocation of work packages. This activity has a relevant impact in the subsequent development of the project and entails complex decisions. Therefore, this thesis is aimed at the definition of a methodological framework for the allocation of work packages. The resolution of the problem has been approached from a multidisciplinary point of view taking in consideration aspects not belonging to software engineering such as competence paradigm and cultural management. The proposed solution provides a framework to support the allocation of work packages in GSD projects that can be tailored to the concrete situation of each organization or project and that provides the most suitable metrics for the assessment of the different factors involved in the allocation. The development of this thesis has followed a sound and consistent research methodology that has included a systematic literature review and qualitative methods such as nominal group technique and Delphi. In the last phase of the research methodology an empirical validation has been performed to verify the applicability of the framework. The data obtained from the validation indicate that the application of the framework for the allocation of work packages in GSD environments introduces a relevant improvement of the aforementioned process

Understanding Tools and Practices for Distributed Pair Programming

When considering the principles for eXtreme Programming, distributed eXtreme Programming, especially distributed pair programming, is a paradox predetermined to failure. However, global software development as well as the outsourcing of software development are integral parts of software projects. Hence, the support for distributed pair programming is still a challenging field for tool developers so that failure for distributed pair programming becomes less mandatory. In this paper, we analyse the social interaction in distributed pair programming and investigate how current technology supports this interaction. We present XPairtise, a plug-in for Eclipse that allows instant pair programming in distributed development teams. In addition, we report on experiences and findings when using XPairtise in a distributed software development setting.Mullti Actor SystemsTechnology, Policy and Managemen