Work in Pairs

Divide into pairs to work on an exercise. The facilitator can go round and assist pairs as they need it. Either divide up randomly or deliberately pair juniors with more senior people.

Benefits and Pitfalls

• Each person gets quite a bit of hands-on practice actively doing the exercise.
• If one person gets stuck hopefully their pair can help them without needing the facilitator to step in.
• Not too stressful for the facilitator - if no pairs need help, you can relax.
• Not too stressful for the participants - if you mess up it’s probably only your pair who will notice, and they will help you.
• If a pair has to set up their own coding environment before starting the exercise, they can waste a lot of time.
• The facilitator has little control of what the pair does - they might go down a rabbit hole unrelated to what they are supposed to achieve.
• It can help to begin with a demo to the whole group showing the first part of what they are supposed to do.