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Ensemble Development


Perhaps you’ve heard about Mob Programming?* It’s a collaboration technique for a whole team to work together on software development. Woody Zuill describes it as:

All the brilliant people working on the same thing, at the same time, in the same space, on the same computer.

Woody Zuill

When you have a team working smoothly together as an ensemble, it’s a wonderful thing to take part in. You have the chance to create the best possible software the people in that team would be capable of – everyone has contributed their unique expertise and experience to it, collaborating in real time. Perhaps you and your team are interested in trying it out, but havn’t quite got around to it yet? Or maybe you did have a go and it didn’t go as well as you’d hoped?

This is the training course for you! You will learn how to:

  • Solve problems as a team and improve collaboration
  • Structure your ensemble with roles and rotations
  • Get going quickly with ensemble working once you’re back in your production code

What is included in the course?

  • Experience of working in an ensemble/mob
  • Practical tips and tricks to improve communication and collaboration
  • Creating a safe, engaging coding environment with your team

Course Format

  • Highly experiential and engaging mix of theory, discussions and exercises
  • No Powerpoint presentations
  • Large proportion of hands-on exercises in small groups, with opportunities for reflection
  • Two half days (remote) with a week in between or one full-day in-office

Course Content

  • What is Ensemble Working?
  • What roles should you start with?
  • How do rotations work?
  • What actually happens when a team works together in an ensemble?
  • How do you communicate effectively as Navigator?
  • What should the Typist do?
  • What should the rest of the team be doing when those two are talking and typing?
  • How can you tell when your ensemble is on track, and what to do if it’s not?

Trainers

Olof Bjarnason, Fredrik Wendt, Emily Bache, Samuel Ytterbrink, Patrik Gustafsson

Our trainers are all technical agile coaches with long experience of sustainable software development in a team setting, often using ensemble programming to increase learning and flow.

Prerequisites

This course is aimed at professional developers who have at least a few years experience in industry. It’s particularly beneficial if you can bring your whole team – a mix of senior and junior developers who work together regularly – but we also welcome individuals. It’s an advantage if you’re familiar with writing unit tests and Test-Driven Development.

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What have previous participants said about the course?

More quotes:


”Sharing knowledge makes everyone better”

”Extremely fun!”

”Thankyou for your enthusiasm and engagement during the course”

”I was quite skeptical at first. But this was really useful!”

”I learnt I need to be a lot clearer when I speak”