The Power of Pairing
The ultimate hack to supercharge your team’s efficiency. Oh, and it’s free.
What if I told you, that your team could prevent those everlasting E-mail chains (usually on one, low-to-mid value issue) and deliver quality work, quicker…all while boosting creativity? What if I also told you that this simple trick is also fun, free, and easy?
I introduce you a play on a tactic that’s been around for years: Pairing.
Traditionally, Pairing was when two developers share two screens, keyboards, mice (mouses?), and one desk. Both collaborating on the same code, together, in tandem to solve problems in real-time. Only recently has it deviated away from a“Devs-Only” practice and adopted by teams of varying duties. It is absolutely essential for efficient product releases.
I am proposing going a level higher: Not just two people collaborating, but entire teams sitting together with intermittent two-person pairing sessions occurring naturally.
Time to destroy the madness that is Outlook email chains.
Problem: Teams are Separated
Business people in separate offices, developers in the dungeon, and UX’ers in the corner playing with Post-Its. Decisions are addressed through messaging chains, oftentimes getting lost in translation through unintentional rounds of Telephone. You may say to yourself: “God, this would be hundred times easier and faster if I were just sitting next to them.”
Solution: It’s Too Simple
Physically sitting next to each other leads to organic collaboration. This has been an early childhood educational tactic: Kids start sitting next to each other in cooperative play leading to blossoming creativity. Different experiences collide and collaboration emerges to tackle a task. Why should we phase out this tactic as adults?
Naturally, socializing with your neighbors every day for 8 hours will sprout ideas for that project. No curveballs get thrown since you know what your team has been thinking and feeling.
Benefits of Pairing:
- Effective communication in real-time, daily.
- Encourages creative discussions and less “Cubicle-Complaining.”
- Bird’s eye view of expected delivery, limitations, user needs, and more.
- Learning on steroids! (My favorite)
One of the most underrated benefits of Agile/Lean frameworks is an environment of amplified learning. What better way to grow your own skillset than getting hands-on experience observing users during research studies, coding/DevOps in action, or seeing how project user stories are valued and managed.
Not only is Pairing up paramount to successful product releases, but your own professional success as well.
Everyone learns the WHY
WHY we need to get a feature done. — Enterprise Goals?
WHY we have to use this specific SDK. — Tech Limitations?
WHY this color grey needs to be more #d4d4d4 and less #6c737a. — Branding Guidelines/Personal OCD?
As a UX Person: Whether you do research or chop wireframes, the “U” in UX and being user advocates can sometimes fog your roadmap goals. In a perfect world, we could build the perfect app meeting every inherent need the user has, but we often fail to realize the WHY behind why some rocks just won’t move.
By sitting with ProductMates–yes, I coined that for this post– you’ll quickly realize that frustrations are shared and should be viewed through a different lens. I have been blessed with product owners who have shed light on concerns unknown to designers like myself about budgeting constraints or reasoning from higher-ups about why we cannot accommodate some of the extravagant user-wants at that moment in the release schedule.
As a Developer: You may be stuck wondering why you are building such heavily designed functions using unconventional methods. Have you thought about reaching out to your UX Researcher? I have personally dragged my developers into in-person usability studies with great success. When they hear from the mouth of an actual user why he/she prefers the cool animations for a seamless experience, it blows there mind! I have found this to be extremely effective with all levels of tech folks.
As a Product Owner/Analyst: You already have an idea of limitations on the backend and the designer on your team produces pristine work, so you are off the hook right? Wrong. Try sitting next to your developer for an entire day while you respond to emails and manage your ever-growing user stories. This alone will teach you more about the happenings on the ground level than any weekly stand-up meeting ever will.
You will truly learn the hiccups and frustrations of each departments day-to-day that affects the overall product cycle. Use this knowledge to navigate successfully going forward no matter what your role is.
How to Start:
- Break down walls. Move desks. Managers: move your designers, product owners, and developers together. If they’re all working on the same product, why not share space?
- Set up a time to pair. This isn’t the best option since sometimes this becomes a working meeting. It lacks organic learnings, but definitely better than only 15 minutes of face time with your team in weekly stand-ups. Pen in 4–6 hours a week where everyone jumps in a room and just gets to work. Plain and simple. Also works best for Remote/Offsite teams as team members would have to plan to commute ahead of time.
- Ask Questions. Get curious. What the heck is Jenkins used for? Why haven’t we started on that killer prototype we user tested? Do not throw on your headphones and zone out.
Pairing is a great opportunity to identify obstacles, collisions, and risk to projects and eliminate them early on while involving all who are directly affected by the project in real-time. The best part about pairing up to knock down tasks is that you and your team can do it with anyone, anywhere, in any way.
Gone are the days of developers wondering in confusion whether users want this feature or not. They can now witness User Research unravel before their eyes from the booking of users to synthesizing findings.
Gone are the days of your product owner struggling to communicate decisions. Now, sitting beside their team, he or she can work it out. Together.
Get off your butt (literally). Supercharge your team.
