global-liquid-mob.github.io

Global Liquid Mob

The current thinking goes something like this:

Hypothesis: Ensemble/Mob programming, as a format, is very resilient and thrives on collaboration, so resilient that a mob can continually form and reform throughout the course of a single day, and even continue for as long the people involved choose to do so.

Conclusion to be tested: It is possible to construct a globe-spanning mob that maintains the fluid nature of single-piece work throughout multiple continuous 24 hour cycles by changing the makeup of the mob throughout each day in a structured way, generally “flowing” east-to-west in a non-stop and sustainable fashion.

A simplistic example of what is proposed has groups of between 2 and 3 people all participating from within 1 or more neighboring time zone(s) identified as a single “group”. They are separated by approximately 3-5 hours on either side from two similar groups: one to the east, another to the west. Each group, in their local morning, combine to mob with the group to their east making what they view as a morning mob. The two groups function as one mob totaling 4-6 people.

In this model, each group takes a break at the midpoint of their day, after which they reform into an afternoon mob, having left the group to their east and now joining with the group to their west, again separated from them by approximately 3-5 time zones.

In general, at all times, there is a functioning mob of roughly 4-6 people who have carried the code base further with each successive change. This will initially feel strange, because it is very new. In the format’s full implementation the same cycles repeat each day, then it is expected that these cycles will become routine.

Global Liquid Time Zone Alignments

Open questions There are many questions about the details: That is what the experiment is designed to surface. There are also some absolutes:

• at any given time a “mob” consists of at least four people, and not more than 7 (with the exception of a mob behaving like normal people and breaking for a meal),
• actively working together on the same thing,
• on one computer at a time, as the driver rotates.

Some of the advantages of a global and fluid model include but are not limited to:

• where people are can vary widely so long as they can work together.
• at each change of who is part of a given mob, there are multiple other mobbers that have been working on that solution for roughly the last four hours, so there is effectively no “break” or “handoff”. It is more akin to a continuous flow.
• Learning is going on continuously, and it may turn out that the role of “archivist” is elevated in this model to reinforce continguous learning and communication at multiple levels.

Some minimally viable conditions can be met for almost all participants, ideally continuously:

1. a reliable computer connection,
2. minimally, good voice connectivity,
3. ideally, video connection that allows each participant to see all other participants,
4. the ability to transfer control of the code being worked on between individuals easily, or, control of a single computer that is editing the code. The details will likely be determined by the tools and frameworks already in use by the Open Source Software project being worked on.

The current focus

What we are modeling is a slice of a workweek: 2 consecutive days, functioning as a mob (many different connected mobs actually), developing a project, together.

Q0 — When and where are events that explore this space? When: Every 3rd weekend in 2021. Where: The whole planet. Schedule and Eventbite links here.

Q1 — What constitutes a Mob/Ensemble? At any given time a “mob” consists of at least four people, and not more than 7, actively working together on the same thing, on one computer at a time, as the driver rotates. The obvious exception is when people are breaking for a meal.

Q2 — Do I have to join for the entire day? “ is often asked, as well as “When do I join this thing?”

When you participate and for how long is entirely up to you. You can join from wherever you are on the planet, and the event should be in full swing the entire calendar day Saturday, and _part of Sunday, up to about **_noon NZT.

See the images above to see where people are most likely to be joining from as the event travels around the globe. It will be important to carry an objective, a singular objective for any given mob/ensemble forward, like we do with REAL coding projects.

Q3 — Is there a Slack Group? Yes - Software Crafters Slack Group has a “#liquid-mob-session-log” channel. Please copy and paste captures from the micro-retros in that channel. If you can, please post links after the event to any social media entries (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc) about your experience at the event.

We will continue to use the same mob/ensemble method of working together. The big difference is likely to be that who you code with in the morning will be East of you, and in the afternoon you more likely to be with others who are West of you, in general. _THAT_ is the flow that makes a Liquid Mob.

How will mobs initially be formed? The same as for Open Space: From a Marketplace. And they will likely form and reform through an entire day.

The “micro-retrospective” pattern will still be done with each rotation (when we’ve all had the chance to be the driver/typist once):

• How did that feel?
• What was it we did that felt so good that we want to do more of it.

Breaks:

We take breaks roughly each hour. What will be different is how and where we share out what each team’s experiences has been over the last hour. See the section above about Software Crafters Slack group. There is a channel there for this purpose.

This periodic retro is a key contributor to learning, recognizing, and reinforcing new habits, and learning from, and with, one another.

UPDATE:

In June 2021 the basic model was validated for the first time. See these experinece reports where people from all over the world worked on the same codebase a total of 27 hours, continuosly:

1. Patricia M - “Geeks unite with mob programming!”
2. Nicolas Guignard - This weekend we did an experiment
3. Iam Moss - GMPE Hack Day Retro