Wow. I recommend everyone read through that page. Some may love it. Obviously the bosses at SOCi do. For me it is a dystopian nightmare.
To summarize: there are three roles, Typist, Navigator, and Support.
The Typist is not allowed to think. They are explicitly described as a "smart input device". For the most part, only the Navigator is allowed to think. They tell the Typist exactly what to type, and the Typist must follow everything the Navigator speaks, to the letter.
The Support only looks over both their shoulders and sets a 10 minute timer after which the roles rotate. Yes, every 10 minutes everyone switches roles.
When working in person, one thing this selects for is people with perfect vision. Elderly programmers need not apply!
Why do I say that? Well, I have computer glasses that let me see my screen perfectly even at my age. This applies to anyone over 40-50: if you don't have them already, I strongly recommend getting a pair of single vision prescription lenses tuned for your normal distance from the screen. Since I use a laptop, these glasses are set for a 20" focus distance. I have two external monitors (one landscape above the laptop, the other in portrait mode to one side), and I keep those at the same 20" distance from my eyes. It is glorious! Everything is in focus, all the time.
If we're sitting around a desk, it's almost certain that I won't be able to read what's on your screen, for the simple reason that it won't be at a distance that brings it into focus (probably much too far away).
Oh, and you may like dark themes and tiny fonts like all the young people use these days. So even if it were at the right distance I wouldn't be able to read what's on the screen.
Mobbing on a Zoom call mitigates the focus distance, but the dark theme and tiny fonts would still mean I can't see your code.
And webcams are supposed to be on all the time so your fellow mobsters can see your face. A nice sentiment, but two problems:
1. I can't work sitting. If I do, I fall asleep after a while.
2. I can work standing, but not standing still! (I'm no John Carmack, who can give an hour long talk without moving a muscle.) I have to move around in order to think and stay alive. So I would constantly be walking in and out of camera range, or stretching, or wiggling around on my Fluidstance balance board, or just looking out the window for a vision break.
A more delicate problem: Sometimes older people need to take more frequent bathroom breaks, and the timing may be unpredictable, especially for someone like me who eats a lot of fiber for intestinal health. Sorry, I may not be able to just "hold it" until the next scheduled mob break. (Apologies for the TMI.)
This whole thing is an ADA compliance lawsuit just waiting to happen. (And no, I'm not going to be the test case; I have no interest in working for a company with these practices.)
Thank you for your insights! While the idea is interesting, the images on top of the SOCi article support your sceptism: Three programmers gathered around a tiny laptop screen is awful. You can always increase the font size though - I regularly work with a fairly large font as it is not as straining for long periods, but how do you persuade your coworkers to that? It takes quite some getting used to the diminished screen space.
That said, I would never want to join a company that has phrases like
> The mob disbands, either to sleep, or to their individual work
and
> [...] full 8 hours of programming [...] minimum expectations [...] additional time is expected to be put in
That is literly a description of programming hell for me (20+yrs also here). My fingers are so much better at streaming my thoughts them my mouth which often struggles to keep up.
Yep, same here. And people are also not very good at listening; even if you are focusing only to type, people miss stuff and I have to repeat or explain in another way while I could have typed things 100x myself in that time. I think I’ll give this weirdness a miss.
Christ almighty, that sounds more similar to one of those inane "team building" exercises that they make you do on corporate retreats rather than actual work.
> When working in person, one thing this selects for is people with perfect vision. Elderly programmers need not apply! ... prescription for 20" focus ...
I went the other way. 42in 4K TV placed further back. Big font. Zero eyestrain.
The main trick is that you have to set up the TV in "Game Mode" to turn off input processing, and also turn off stuff like overscan.
Obviously this setup may not work in a office cubicle or other space-constrained space.
Works fine for in-person reviews in the time of Covid, the other person isn't hovering over my shoulder either. They can stay way back and still see what's going on.
Provigil solves the sleep issue. But I’m a bit younger and I also cannot read dark themes. It’s especially infuriating that half the default font colors appear to be dark shades as well, so it’s dark on dark.
Drug your employees so they appear to be working the desired hours. I can see ethical problems with that idea. The employer should at least be dispensing the drugs for free as a "benefit".
To summarize: there are three roles, Typist, Navigator, and Support.
The Typist is not allowed to think. They are explicitly described as a "smart input device". For the most part, only the Navigator is allowed to think. They tell the Typist exactly what to type, and the Typist must follow everything the Navigator speaks, to the letter.
The Support only looks over both their shoulders and sets a 10 minute timer after which the roles rotate. Yes, every 10 minutes everyone switches roles.
When working in person, one thing this selects for is people with perfect vision. Elderly programmers need not apply!
Why do I say that? Well, I have computer glasses that let me see my screen perfectly even at my age. This applies to anyone over 40-50: if you don't have them already, I strongly recommend getting a pair of single vision prescription lenses tuned for your normal distance from the screen. Since I use a laptop, these glasses are set for a 20" focus distance. I have two external monitors (one landscape above the laptop, the other in portrait mode to one side), and I keep those at the same 20" distance from my eyes. It is glorious! Everything is in focus, all the time.
If we're sitting around a desk, it's almost certain that I won't be able to read what's on your screen, for the simple reason that it won't be at a distance that brings it into focus (probably much too far away).
Oh, and you may like dark themes and tiny fonts like all the young people use these days. So even if it were at the right distance I wouldn't be able to read what's on the screen.
Mobbing on a Zoom call mitigates the focus distance, but the dark theme and tiny fonts would still mean I can't see your code.
And webcams are supposed to be on all the time so your fellow mobsters can see your face. A nice sentiment, but two problems:
1. I can't work sitting. If I do, I fall asleep after a while.
2. I can work standing, but not standing still! (I'm no John Carmack, who can give an hour long talk without moving a muscle.) I have to move around in order to think and stay alive. So I would constantly be walking in and out of camera range, or stretching, or wiggling around on my Fluidstance balance board, or just looking out the window for a vision break.
A more delicate problem: Sometimes older people need to take more frequent bathroom breaks, and the timing may be unpredictable, especially for someone like me who eats a lot of fiber for intestinal health. Sorry, I may not be able to just "hold it" until the next scheduled mob break. (Apologies for the TMI.)
This whole thing is an ADA compliance lawsuit just waiting to happen. (And no, I'm not going to be the test case; I have no interest in working for a company with these practices.)