XpdWiki: PairingInAStrictHREnvironment

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+ Good question. A Workable compromise is one that does not interrupt the flow of pairing with the need to log out/log in, or even switch to a different profile (as it seems that would lose context in the IDE, local servers etc.), or ''even'' go through some time-recording shennanigans to provide a minute-by-minute log of who was typing when (this has been suggested), as the keyboard changes hands between pairing developers.

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+ The team discussed this and I have proposed to the business the team consensus, which is that the one pairing id (username "extreme") is available only on the designated pairing mahcines, and is the only login (bar "administrator" and such) that is available on those machines, and then we make it part of the "XP developer" role definition that we all take joint and several responsibility for what happens ''on those machines'' and ''with that login''. This appeals to me since it is a sociological fix for a sociological problem, and is fully aligned with the values and principles of XP. I've yet to have a response.

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+ My informal survey of other XP teams regarding this question has been illuminating. No-one is prepared to admit to having had this problem before (which amazes me). It seems that our situation is unusual in that 1) we have one "extreme" login under which all pairing occurs, rather than a pair's work being done under one member or the other's login, and 2) we have half as many pairing machines as developers, rather than a 1:1 pool of machines, half of which are idle during pairing time. I'm most reluctant to monkey around with either of these features of the environment, as they both seem to me to foster good practice. I should add that OliBye put this environment in place and did a pretty good job, I wouldn't want to do XP in any other scenario. So I'm particularly keen that HR don't break this scheme a few weeks before I export it to the new team in Singapore!--KB