Here is my view on why remote pairing works better for me
Tags: productivity, programming, devjournal
Published: 2021-02-13 11:41:36

Since the pandemic started I think there was a big focus from employers and most employees on “sticking it out” until this whole thing goes away and we return back to normal. We told ourselves this will be in the next month, three months, Christmas the latest. Well, unfortunately, we are still in square one, one might say even worse. The only positive light ahead is the vaccinations programs rolling out. However, until those start to take effect, there is at least until the end of the year. So what I am trying to say is, why suck it up now and daydream of what it could be rather than making the most of the current situation in terms of working remotely? Here is my view on why remote pairing works for me better:

**Better physical position**
When we work in the office and we want to pair, the easiest solution is to come close together with my chair to a colleague of mine and get down to work. This usually means that either both or one of us has to look at the screen under weird angles or be in a hunched-over position, somehow stretched to get a better glimpse at what is going on in the screen.

By contrast, if we are doing remote pairing, everyone can be in their most comfortable position be that on their standing desk, gaming chair, bed or whatever works best for you. At least from my perspective this makes me more focused on the task we are trying to solve rather than how most comfortably to sit myself without invading my colleague’s personal space.

**Being more involved**
For the driver, there is pretty much no difference on this step. However, when I am the navigator, there is a massive difference. When I am on my own machine, I can use one screen for example to look at what the driver is doing, while I use the other one to Google or research something, which is required for the task. In addition, if we are stuck and want to look for help online or from a documentation or whatever source you use, it is so much easier to do that simultaneously while discussing it. Additionally, if you want to double check some config for example, which is related to what you are doing, go ahead and do that. Lastly, you can write notes or respond to that urgent message another colleague sent you. As a whole, you are much more free to research, contribute, investigate and engage rather than just being the “observer”.

**Easily add more people to the discussion**
Say you and your pair have come to a point where you need the wider team members to contribute their opinion on something. Or you just want one more person to take a quick look at what progress you have made. All that is much easier, by just adding some more people to the call and they can very easily(from their own comfort – see the above points) guide you in the right direction or give you their insights, without having to surround the poor driver in the office. 

**There are already enough tools to assist and there are many more to come**
With high quality video calling and screen sharing you pretty much have all you need to get started on a proper pair programming session. In addition, there are some very useful IDEs and plugins nowadays that make it easy to collaborate on the same project simultaneously, such as VS Code Live Share, IntelliJ Code With Me, Atom’s Motepair and many others, with much more to come as we are still battling with the pandemic and working from home. This makes explaining your idea to the driver much easier. You can even write it yourself(from the comfort of your own keyboard and programming setup). Lastly, you have all the usual Google Docs, OneDrive, etc., which can be used to assist as well. 

**No distractions**
When working in the office, inevitably, you will run in multiple distractions in a single day, which take you away from your work. Don’t get me wrong, I think those are vital to remind you to take a break. However, when you and your pair are deep into the code, trying to solve an interesting problem the last thing you want is to have trouble hearing one another because some other pair next to you is doing the same, or there is another distraction in the room. Compared to working alone in a dedicated private space just for you, the above sounds like a nightmare.

**Conclusion**
I am not saying this is ideal or that I want to work like that forever. What I want to say is let’s focus on the positives and try and find what works best for us and our team. I think a lot of people are even avoiding pair programming now, just because it is different and trying to “suck it up” another week or so until we go in the office. Unfortunately, no one knows yet when we will be allowed back in the office and if this is even a viable working environment in the next years to come. If it was down to me though, I would love to spend some more time remote working rather than being in the office, or at least have the option to. 

P.S. This is my view on the subject as a fairly new developer. I would be interested to hear your thoughts, especially if you have more experience in software development. 

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