Learning from the Experience

For the last 20 minutes of the session, have a closing mob retrospective where everyone who participated in the mob can share insights and put forward suggestions on what to adjust for next time.

There are several ways to do this, my favorite is to use a technique borrowed from Edward de Bono’s book Six Thinking Hats [de 99] that separates thinking into clear functions, keeping the discussion on track.

Thinking Hats

To do Thinking Hats effectively, you need blank Post-its and a Sharpie, and you can re-use the whiteboard you used for mobbing.

As the person facilitating, it’s up to you to make the notes on what’s being discussed, enforce time limits, and keep the conversation on track and moving. The retrospective is broken up into the following steps as shown in the table.

Step 1 - Explain How Thinking Hats Works

Draw four columns on the whiteboard. In each column, write the color hat, focus, and time limit.

Explain to the mob that as a group you’re going to review the mobbing session with four distinct hats. Everyone will figuratively wear the same hat, at the same time, and discuss the mobbing session from that hat’s perspective.

Each hat is worn for a limited time. When the time runs out, everyone will take off that hat and put on the next one. Repeat this process until all of the hats have been worn.

If during a discussion someone starts wearing the wrong hat, it’s OK to interrupt them and bring the conversation back to focus on the current hat. You are the facilitator, after all.

In addition, and as the discussion is happening, write each idea on separate Post-its and stick them in the appropriate column on the board. A consensus isn’t needed for something to go in a column. If one person feels a certain way about something, it’s valid and can be put up, provided it meets the criteria for that hat.

Before moving on to step 2, make sure everyone understands how this works.

Step 2 - Focus on Facts and Figures (White Hat)

Start the timer and spend 2 minutes on facts and figures. Everyone in the mob shares facts about the session. Some examples of facts that people might give are:

• We changed typists every 10 minutes
• John was typist twice
• The editor font was font size 16

Be on the lookout for people wearing the wrong hat. A common mistake is for people to state opinions as fact.

• We spent spent two intervals on a simple part of the problem
• We solved the problem quickly

Both the above statements are opinions because simple and quickly are opinions, not facts. If someone states an opinion as a fact, get them to rephrase it to remove the opinion portion of their statement. A good indication that something is an opinion is if it can be taken as a positive or a negative statement. If we restated the previous two opinions as facts they would look something like this:

• We spent two intervals on the calculation part of the problem.
• We solved the problem in 2 hours 15 minutes.

Once the time has run out on focusing on facts and figures stop the discussion and move on to Step 3.

Step 3 - Focus on Positive Thinking (Yellow Hat)

Start the timer and spend 3 minutes for the group to come up with positive thinking around the mobbing session. Anything positive about the experience is appropriate.

Some questions you can ask to get the ball rolling include:

• What worked best?
• What was easier than expected?
• What did you like about the session?

As people suggest things, write them down and place them in the Positive Thinking column. Once the time has run out, stop the discussion and move on to Step 4.

Step 4 - Focus on Critical Thinking (Black Hat)

Start the timer and spend 3 minutes on critical thinking. In their opinion, what didn’t feel right, what irritated them?

As people suggest things, write them on stickies and place them in the Critical Thinking column. Again, you don’t need consensus for something to be valid. If one person feels critical about something, it should go in the Critical Thinking column.

Keep an eye out for people combining solutions with criticisms. For example, “I didn’t like the ten-minute intervals, let’s do five minutes going forward,” is a combination of a criticism and a solution. Compare this to, “I didn’t like the ten-minute interval,” which is just the criticism. If people combine criticisms with solutions, get them to rephrase it with just the criticism.

Once the time has run out, stop the discussion and move on to the next step.

Step 5 - Focus on Constructive Problem Solving (Green Hat)

Start the timer and spend 5 minutes on constructive problem solving. Get the group to look at the items listed in the Critical Thinking column and think how they can improve those things. During this step, people are just suggesting ideas, and every suggestion is valid.

Once the time has run out, stop the discussion and move on to the final step.

Step 6 - Decide and Agree on an Adjustment

Start the timer for 3 minutes. You now need to decide and agree on one adjustment for the next mobbing session.

Ask the group which suggestions in the Constructive Problem Solving column they’d like the mob to try first. Often groups make the mistake of wanting to change too many things at once; encourage the mob to settle on just one thing.

If it’s not clear what the one adjustment is, reiterate that the adjustment is just an experiment for the next mobbing session. If it doesn’t work, you can always revert it.

If you get consensus on an adjustment that everyone is willing to try, write it on a Post-it and place it in the final column. Make sure the specifics of it are clearly understood.

If you can’t get consensus to try something, don’t change anything. Let the mob know that you’ll repeat the exercise after the next mobbing session and that you’ll need them to get consensus on one adjustment to try out.

Thank everyone for participating in the mobbing session and close the mob retrospective.

You’ve Completed Your First Mobbing Session

With the close of the mob retrospective, you’ve completed your first Mob Programming session—well done. You have now applied the basic recipe of mobbing.

Follow up the first mobbing session with additional mobbing sessions over the next few weeks, focusing on katas or problems where there’s no expert and no heavy deadlines.