For Mob Programming 2020 we will be continuing our original emphasis on plenty of hands-on immersive mob programming sessions.  There will be several parallel tracks hosted by the Moberators we have been inviting. Here is what we are thinking for our 2020 tracks:

Moberator-Led Sessions: These are our core type of session.  They will focus on specific topics such as TDD, better test suites, techniques for turn-taking, dojos in various languages.  We will be announcing the session details later on.

Open Jam: In the past we had a format with open space sessions in the middle of a conference day.  We would like to extend this to be happening all through the conference’s two days. There will be a way to propose sessions on the spot and to attend any that appeal to you.

Continuous Mob: This is a track where one project will span the 2 days of the conference.  You don’t have to commit to staying in this track the whole time; the idea is that the stream of work will continue and people can be present for some or all of the sessions.

Leaders:  If you’re not coding anymore (or never were) but you want to understand the business benefits of mob programming, this is for you.  In these sessions you’ll hear from people who’ve helped their organizations become a better place to work, and get the work done to a much higher standard – by supporting their mob programming teams.

When management organizes and directs the work, communications, coordination between people and groups, and manages people in general, it is perhaps breaking the natural creation of communication lines that a person will build up if they have become adept in the concept of “pull”.

Here I am using the idea of pull as shared in the book “The Power Of Pull” by Hagel, et al: “Pull,” the ability to draw out people and resources as needed to address opportunities and challenges.

The path we stumbled down which eventually resulted in our first sessions of #MobProgramming was made possible by removing almost all aspects of “management”, or at least reducing the impact of “management” being applied to the team.

Before we began this journey the people on the “team” rarely behaved as a team. They really weren’t a team, but people working on separate, but similar, things. They operated as individuals, working more or less alone, communicating and interacting on occasion “as needed”. This is collaboration in a highly ineffective and stilted manner, and, from what I’ve seen and experienced, is common in software development.

We had no idea where we would end up, but every day we were looking for things that were going well, and considering how to “turn up the good”. We were seeking ways to simplify things in general, introduce slack, and make improvements without the artificial constraints. It was clear that collaboration was a weak spot for us, so that was a particular focus area.

Not knowing where we would end up, these simple actions – paying attention, perturbing the system, trying things, taking small steps, reflecting daily, learning to listen to each other, and a few other simple things – made a huge improvement to our work and lives.

#MobProgramming emerged as we exercised our agency to make improvements. The important story of #MobProgramming is not where we “ended up”, but rather the actions we can take to make things better. “Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion” ~The Power of Pull

Jan 21, 2020

Nate Wixom and Torrey Powell pondered this thought together over drinks after attending the 2017 Mob Programming conference.  Nate steers Marketing Technology and Torrey leads Software Engineering at Clearlink. Both had separately stumbled upon Mob Programming as a solution for challenges in their respective organizations. Torrey and Nate came back in 2018 to share their step-by-step journey from mobbing with a couple of teams to mobbing with twelve to fifteen teams. Now in 2020, Torrey is on the conference Program Team, helping to grow our Leaders Track.

Prior to adopting mob programming, developers at Clearlink worked individually for the most part. “The system was medieval. We’d joke about getting torches for the walls,” said Nate. Interior decorating concerns aside, Nate was observing projects that “seem to wander into the woods” and take much longer than conceived. He brought in a consultant who suggested the idea of mob programming. About the same time, Torrey’s team was designing a new application from the ground up. At a meeting early on to discuss architecture and hash out a game plan, one of his team members suggested they simply do it all together to stay on the same page. It was serendipity that their organic start to mobbing came at the same time Nate was considering the approach.

Nate and Torrey were key allies to each other in the transformation. After the 2017 conference, “we drafted our Mob Programming Manifesto on what we wanted to follow.” Having two organizations trying the same approach built momentum. Executives needed convincing. Questions needed to be answered. Teams persuaded to adopt a new way of getting work done. The concept proven with results. One by one, Nate and Torrey worked through their manifesto goals. They saw tangible benefits to mob programming and it has worked out well. Executive buy-in is 100%.

Surprises have mostly been pleasant. “There is greater knowledge sharing, better morale. Quality has increased – there are fewer bugs going out the door. The skill level of developers has increased. The level of engagement with stakeholders outside the organization has increased as they join in with a mob.” Importantly, mob programming has accommodated Clearlink‘s rapid growth. “We’re bringing 2 – 3 developers on per month. It  is much easier and effective to put them in a mob than to have individual training with a developer.” Nate and Torrey acknowledge Mob Programming isn’t a fit for all individual styles. “We lost a few developers in the transition.” Unexpectedly, “we’re now attracting higher quality developers because they know we are doing mob programming.”

Join us for the Mob Programming 2020 Conference in Boston on May 30-31. Torrey will speak as part of the Leaders Track (program being developed now) and he especially welcomes “anyone aspiring to try mob programming, if they are anywhere on the fence. They can understand our journey, what we’ve overcome and how we did it. How to sell it to executives and get corporate buy-in.” Genius indeed, don’t miss it!