Baton pass pairing

Remote work comes with some amount of flexibility. This should make your “pairing hours” as a developer flexible and also help you decide what can work best for you and your pair.

Here’s an example of the baton-pass pairing which allows each dev to work solo for a few hours and pair during the overlap hours.

One dev starts their day early and begins working solo. At some point, the second dev joins them and they have a few hours of intense pairing. After the first dev logs off, the second dev works solo. At the end of their day, the second dev writes up notes for the first dev. That way the first dev can pick up the baton the next day. The practice of writing good commit messages make this pattern even more effective.