In a retrospective a wee while ago we identified the phenomenon of clumping. Clumping, as it has been colloquially termed, is the crowding effect that occurs when too many pairs cram into one section of the bullpen.
Now, our bullpen has ample space to distribute pairs so they can work comfortably, yet we often experience clumping. To try remedy the effect, in the daily standup and at pair-swaps throughout the day we ask people to be aware of clumping and attempt to distribute themselves utilizing the whole bullpen area. This works well if the code is mobile. By that I mean that working story slices are checked-in at pair-swaps, so that the code for a story can continue to be worked on at any workstation in the bullpen and not be anchored at a particular workstation. That’s not as easy as it might sound.
