Sustainable Pace
(formerly known as 40-Hour-Week)

This topic is not about labor unions!

The Problem

When pair programming, the work density will be much higher as you cannot opt out of the pair. Respect for the time that the partner shares with you requires you to always be present, literally and figurally.

In traditional development approaches it is normal, at least not uncommon, that people work much more approximately 40 hours per week. The result is not only higher divorce rate, but also a higher defect rate, a less value per programming hour, a reduce motivation of the employees and other things more.

The XP Answer

To address this problem, XP proposes as one of its practices Sustained Pace (formerly known as 40-hour-week). Working just 40 hours sounds great, but you should not see this religously. Apart from that the productivity is already increased by using XP practices, such as pair programming (I simply state this here from observation. As far as I know there are no exact numbers available yet.)

It is not important wether you work 40, 38, or 42 hours. It is not a desaster if for some reason, in one week you have to work not only monday through friday, but also an extra shift on saturday. Important is, that you work on average a certain time per week, and that you are able to keep up this pace in the long run.

By limiting the time per week to a sustainable pace, the team enjoys some protection against mistakes caused by decreased concentration. The progammer is protected, too, as just increasing the hours (of presence?) decreases the average value per hour that the programmer can deliver.

Small Breaks

Another aspect, which should be looked at when considering working time, are the breaks. Each time upon completion of a task, you should have a short break, e.g. 15 minutes, or you have a break every two hours, whatever comes first.

These breaks can be spent at the coffee machine. This way you can have some smalltalk (not the programming language!) reflecting what went good, and what needs improvement, looking back at what you and your partner did in the previous two hours. At the same time you gain some distance to the work; not only figurally, but also literally.

Tips

• Do not work overtime two weeks in a row.
• Make sure to have breaks.
• Some break happen anyhow, such as when there is a standup meeting.