Yesterday was the first online Meetuo I attended from the DevOps Stuttgart Group https://www.meetup.com/de-DE/devops-stuttgart/ concerning ideas for HomeOffice and Remote Work. It is organized a former Bosch colleague now working for Thoughtworks. It was the first online Meetup, so in the beginning there were some challenges to setup the Meeting. It was streamed live to Youtube (public) from a Google Meet space. After some initial troubles it worked pretty well. Interaction between the participants was not that much initially but everbody seems to need some time getting used to those remote work situations.

Michael and his colleague Lena shared some great insights how at Thoughtworks they are tackling the situation. And they have some great ideas, I think we should use to!

Michael pointed out that at Thoughtworks there default way to work is pairprogramming even in remote sessions. From point of view in remote work situations it is even more valuable! You get so much benefits out of it, that I don’t see any reason not to do it! Below are some of the tips and ideas Michael shared on pairprogramming.

The second talk from Lena shared insights how they are currently tackling the situation, and try to provide the team members an office like feeling and give each other support and have social contacts!

Third talk was concerining TMUX, great to get even more info on that one. It’s definitly nerdy but a valuable tool for any person working with linux or on the CLI. Even Damyan would have been happy :)

Like always I learned a lot, and I think we can see that a lot of companies are moving forward and are developing some interesting new skills, which will improve future work after this pandemic.

I’m really grateful about the technology we currently have and the opportunity to work in this space, imagine this crisis 30 yrs earlier, it would have been impossible to manage work from home.

Presentation and notes from Michael

Morgenkreis 2.0

Michael is trying a Morgenkreis 2.0 where the Kids of all colleagues are also presenting in the daily there work. Something really interesting and I would love to try out. Just have to wrap my head around it a bit more! Definitly interesting!

Do Remote Pair-Programming

Some general info about pair programming can be found in the links from Thoughtworks.

Pime Directive of Agile Work

“Regardless of what we discover, we understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job they could, given what they knew at the time, their skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand.”

Benefits

If you would think Pairprogramming takes twice as long, than you would also admit the hardest part on programming is typing!

  • Helps spreading Knowledge
  • Is fun
  • Showing vulnerability
  • Knowledge gaps

Kinds of pair programming

  • Ping Pong
    • 1 developer writes a test, the other one writes the code
  • Driver and Developer
    • Driver writes code
    • Developer has the overview
    • rotate roles

Challenges

  • You might be slower
  • Audio quality may vary
  • You can’t see the other ones expression

Chances

  • Practicing a lot of helpfull skills
  • You have social contact in HomeOffice
  • Learning to be very precise on directions
  • No chance to cheat in PP (Pair Programming)

Tips and Tricks for Pair-Programming

  • Start with something personal,
  • Plan your day together (no unwanted breaks)
  • Speak slowly
  • Work in Pomodoro Style
  • Switch roles regularly
  • 5 sec rule, wait 5 sec until you correct something
  • As navigator collect todos and followups
  • As a driver talk about the code you are writing
    • Great oportunity to learn
  • Have a proper kick-off
    • Discuss the content of the user story before
    • Have well defined acceptance criteria
    • Involve different roles
  • Agree upon research
    • Let people do there own research
  • Don’t work ahead on it alone
  • Clear instructions, no assumptions about know-how
  • Be specific use line numbers
  • Don’t overdo it with tips tricks
  • Add pair initials to the git commit
  • Adjust font screen to sharing
  • Collect Feedback
    • Regularly check way of working
    • Adapt your habits

[EXTRA] Confluence tips

  • Things related to code should be in git
  • Curly Brace {} opens a code block
  • ctrl+shift+A > type code

Helpful Tips for Remote Work

Lena was presenting about working in remote settings, and their experiences in the current crisis, they are working remote for a couple of weeks now.

Routines

  • Have a Stand’up in the morning 8:30
  • Have Stand Down in the Afternoon 17:00
  • Have a regular coffee or tea time 10:00
  • Have an open walk in room/conference (virtual coffee machine)

Tips

  • Set an alarm to take breaks
  • Drink more
  • Pomodoro Technique
  • Regular coffee/tea time
  • Have lunches togehter
  • Have a Wellness/Care Meeting once a week

TMUX

  • One Connection to have multiple terminals
  • Reattach to the terminal after leaving the session
  • highly configurable status line
  • Tools run even if you are not connected
  • Group windows to named sessions
  • Arange the terminals the way you need them
  • Coworking with ssh
  • https://tmuxcheatsheet.com
  • https://gist.github.com/michaellihs/b6d46fa460fa5e429ea7ee5ff8794b96
  • https://www.byobu.org