- Explain the constraint in detail and make sure that the group understands. You could also talk about the intention behing the contraint now or save it for the retro.
- Be observant. Visit each pair, comment, ask questions, suggest alternatives, constraints, helping them progress.
- Take notes (maybe one of the facilitators can take them and do ping pong :P).
- something that was interesting
- what went well
- what could have been better
- Help pairs via self-discovery.
- Not a teacher but a guide. Also don't be the police.
- Don't tell the actual time left. Be vague.
- If you spot dominant personalities, get them to pull back a little. Maybe use Ping Pong for the next session.
- In retro talk about similarities in approaches as well as interestings.
- Ask people who have not contributed. Try specific questions.
- Use a token (just like in standup)
- If you’re not sure where a pair is at just by simple observing at first, first get context then observe again, then weigh in your thoughts
- Often you may spot these situations
- Pairs forget the goal
- Pairs rushing (Remember “no pressure”)
- Pairs new to testing
- Pairs new to a language
- Pairs not in sync on the goals/constraints
- Are the pairs writing tests first
- Does the test reveal an intention or based on implementation
- Not following small steps
- Are they writing the right test in the first place
- Are they following the Red Green Refactor cycle
- Are the pairs refactoring (removing duplication)
- Naming of variables, functions etc
- Do the functions break SRP (close coupling between rules, cells etc)
- More than required code to pass the test
- How many were unable to run tests (usually a good one after the first session)
- How many people had some form of an alive cell or some kind of a flag
- How many people started with a Grid (infinte grid hint)
- Talk about the right data structure to hold the cells
- How many people managed to implement the first rule
- Was it difficult to delete your code
Apart from the above, talk about the learnings from the session itself. For eg; if you did <3 lines of code
, ask them how many people struggled with the constraint and why
Each participant is asked to introduce themselves and state:
- what language they prefer
- what they are setup to use
- what language they'd like to experiment with today