Gym and the Art of Programming

My Days at Bangalore ITPL Gym made me ponder over the similarities between pair programming and Weight Training. This comparison looks funny at the onset, but if you look at it carefully, it actually makes a lot of sense. We can actually transfer some of our learnings from a seemingly totally unrelated field to the art of software programming and agile methods. Let me outline some of the similarities below

1. Weight training is best done in pairs.

2. Weight Training, when done alone, has some serious shortcomings.
- The lifting techniques are usually not proper because there is none to constantly review and correct the lifts
- There is always a tendency to relax a bit, and not stretch oneself to the limit. This is one of the major reasons for not getting proper results.
- There is always a bigger risk of getting injured

3. Lifting in pairs and alternating with the weights tends to make the whole workout much more interesting and enjoyable.

4. When pairs train with each other, they tend to learn from each other.

5. Pairs can be of any combination: expert-expert, expert-novice, and novice-novice. The first two are more desirable. On the whole the though, productivity depends on the attitude of each of the lifters and also how they get along with each other.

6. There is nothing like a trainer to assist you now and then.

Now for the learnings that can be taken an utilized to make programming a better experience

1. Accept it or not, programming in pair with constant review and feedback is not only more productive and more enjoyable, but the programmers tend to learn and refine their skills faster.

2 I also do not accept that pair programming is always beneficial. It ultimately depends on the individual programmers. In an expert-novice pair, the novice is not going to improve if he has no interest / attitude for learning. Pair programming assumes ideal programmers (who have good skills, and have the right attitude to learn). This is usually not the case and thus pair programming might not always succeed just as an incompatible pair might have a disastrous workout.