Mob Programming at a Startup: Mistakes Made and Lessons Learned

In this episode of the Mob Mentality Show, we sit down with Taimoor Imtiaz—CTO at a fast-moving, bootstrapped startup—for a raw, insightful dive into how his small dev team applied mob programming, trunk-based development, and GitHub Flow to accelerate delivery without sacrificing code quality. Taimoor shares the journey of how his team transitioned from traditional PR-based workflows to real-time collaboration in mobs. Along the way, they faced timer-switching friction, monorepo challenges, and the trade-offs of scaling extreme programming practices in a production environment. If you’ve ever wondered how mob programming plays out in a high-pressure startup setting—or whether trunk-based development is viable outside of big enterprise environments—this conversation is for you. What you’ll learn in this episode: How GitHub Flow can be adapted for trunk-based development Why mob programming improved debugging and reduced defects Where mob timebox timers went wrong—and what the team did about it The real impact of developer experience and culture on delivery speed Lessons learned from using a monorepo in a fast-growing codebase Using extreme programming when resources are tight Whether you’re a startup CTO, team lead, or individual contributor looking to evolve your team’s workflow, this episode offers real-world insights into modern software development practices that actually work under pressure. Video and Show Notes:  https://youtu.be/yTbzycv9qw4 

📚 How does Mob Programming really work in the college classroom? In this episode of the Mob Mentality Show, we reconnect with Professor Ben Kovitz to explore the raw lessons, surprising wins, and tough challenges from a full semester of mob programming in a college software design course. Ben shares what happened when he replaced traditional lectures with real-world collaboration. The results? Students developed practical coding skills, improved their communication, and learned to work together as a true software team—less ego, more shared ownership. From early wins with small group design exercises to complex struggles with C++ memory management and GUI libraries, Ben walks us through what worked, what bombed, and what he’d change next time. We break down: Why mob programming created stronger learning and better teamwork than expected How structured rotations got everyone participating and avoiding common pairing pitfalls The highs and lows of using C++ and Qt in a classroom setting The unexpected power of students struggling through real software challenges together Lessons on undo implementation, design patterns, and memory management from hands-on mobbing How a semester wasn’t enough time to fully teach long-term code stewardship and habitable design What might scale—or fall apart—if mob programming were applied to larger classes How this classroom experience mirrors the real world: legacy code, fast feedback, technical debt, and learning as you go Whether you’re a software engineer, an educator, or someone passionate about team learning, this episode gives you actionable insights into mob programming as both a teaching tool and a real-world development practice. We also explore questions like: Can mob programming work with 30+ students? How can solo work and group collaboration coexist in the best learning environments? What does it take to create code that’s not just correct—but actually pleasant to maintain? If you’re interested in agile learning, collaborative coding, and pushing the boundaries of how we teach and work as software teams, this episode is for you. Video and Show Notes: https://youtu.be/kbNEfAcfmeo  

🎲 In this episode of the Mob Mentality Show, we dive into a unique and game-changing (literally) approach to learning Test-Driven Development (TDD) with Ted M. Young (JitterTed), John Wilson, and Janis Kampe. Discover the origin story of the TDD board game that started as a simple teaching aid and evolved into a powerful learning experience for developers, teams, and even product managers. Hear how this game went from casual pub nights to becoming a staple for some in team training sessions, meetups, and Agile coaching toolkits. We break down: ✅ How the TDD board game helps teams internalize the deeper steps of TDD beyond the basic "Red-Green-Refactor" mantra. ✅ Why the game’s focus on prediction, risk management, and working in small steps transforms the way people think about writing code. ✅ The surprising ways the game builds psychological safety, making it accessible even to people new to TDD or nervous about exposing gaps in their knowledge. ✅ How the game naturally leads to ensemble (mob) programming and seamless transitions into hands-on coding platforms like CyberDojo. ✅ Practical tips on using the game to onboard, coach, and improve team collaboration—whether you're remote, hybrid, or in-person. We also explore the importance of failing safely, incremental learning, and how the game allows players to experience both the thrill of success and the consequences of cutting corners—without the high stakes of real-world code. Whether you're a developer, Agile coach, product manager, or just curious about TDD, this episode will give you actionable insights on: 🛠 How to enable continuous learning in your teams. 🎯 Why predicting outcomes matters more than just getting green tests. 🎮 How gamification makes TDD fun, social, and sticky. Key Topics: TDD Board Game Mechanics & Variations Psychological Safety in Learning Risk vs. Reward in Software Development Ensemble Programming (Mob Programming) Transitioning from Game to CyberDojo Practical Coaching Tools for TDD and XP Building Stronger Developer-Product Manager Collaboration Video and Show Notes: https://youtu.be/GjcUdoS5K6I  

👨‍💻 Legacy code isn’t just old untested code—it’s a symptom of deeper problems in your organization. In this no-fluff episode of the Mob Mentality Show, we’re joined by Agile and technical coach Wouter Lagerweij to break down why legacy issues persist and how shared responsibility between product and engineering is the key to meaningful change. 🎯 What we cover in this episode: - Why legacy systems are just as much about organizational baggage as they are about outdated code - How true Agile teaming—swarming, pairing, mobbing—can unlock speed, learning, and fun - Why your bug tracker is a graveyard, and how a zero bug policy can reset your team’s quality bar This is a grounded, experience-rich conversation packed with practical insights for developers, team leads, product managers, and anyone serious about improving delivery without adding more process theater. ✅ You’ll come away with: * A broader definition of legacy and how to confront it * Concrete examples of effective team collaboration models * A new perspective on software quality and defect tracking * Proven ways to foster stronger cross-functional ownership 👤 **About the guest:** Wouter Lagerweij is an independent Agile Coach based in The Netherlands and operating throughout Europe. He loves spending time with teams and organizations to figure out how to improve the way they make software, and make it more fun. To make that happen he uses the knowledge and skills gathered in over eighteen years of experience applying Agile processes and practices from XP, Scrum, Kanban, Continuous Delivery, DevOps, Lean and Systems Thinking. To turn those improvements into real business opportunities, he has added Lean Startup/Lean Enterprise approaches. Occasionally, he even uses common sense. 😅 Video and Show Notes: https://youtu.be/me9CSgmIRk8 

🎙️ What happens when software engineers and leaders don’t speak the same language? How do context-free Agile practices and technical dogma lead teams astray? And how do we create engineering cultures that deliver real business value without burning out? In this Mob Mentality Show episode, we sit down with Kyle Rowland—leadership and software consultant, 20-year software engineering veteran, and author of Powerful Profitable Software Products: The Executive Guidebook—to tackle the tough questions at the heart of sustainable, impactful software delivery. 💡 What We Cover in This Episode: 🔧 The Engineering-Leadership Impedance Mismatch Why do engineering leaders and business leaders often talk past each other? Kyle shares how focusing on both “how” we build and “what” we build—can prevent burnout, bottlenecks, and bad outcomes. We explore why real innovation depends on creating win-win systems, not siloed thinking. ⚠️ The Danger of Context-Free Agile Many teams argue about Agile, TDD, TBD, and pairing without understanding the systems that make those practices work. Kyle unpacks how context, principles, and shared goals determine whether these tools help or hurt—and how to avoid cargo cult Agile. 🔬 Empiricism vs. Philosophy in Tech Decisions Is the Agile Manifesto's call for empiricism enough? Or is there still a place for a priori reasoning (argument from principle) in engineering? Kyle argues for a balanced approach—using experiments where we can, and wisdom where we must. ⏱️ The 1:40 Rule and Escaping Tactical Overload Are you buried in endless 1-on-1s and tactical firefighting? Kyle introduces the “1:40 rule”—a lens for spotting when leaders are too involved in details and not investing in system-level growth. He explains how to avoid organizational entropy and shift your focus from maintenance to momentum. 📚 Plus: Behind the Book We go deep on Kyle’s new book Powerful Profitable Software Products, exploring practical ways leaders can move from reactive chaos to purpose-driven product delivery—while empowering teams and aligning with business goals. 🎧 Whether you're an engineering leader, product owner, or software dev, this episode is packed with insights on leadership, systems thinking, quality, speed, and how to build software that matters. FYI: Video and Show Notes: https://youtu.be/oCK1lMa2s9A  

What if your beliefs—about work, people, or even yourself—are quietly holding you back? In this episode of The Mob Mentality Show, we sit down with visual thinker, author, and accidental Mob Programming anthropologist Dave Gray to unpack the power of belief, clarity, and collaboration in tech and beyond. Dave Gray is known for Liminal Thinking—a book about understanding the invisible beliefs that shape behavior and systems. But did he know he was writing a book about us? Turns out, our Mob Programming origin story and Dave’s journey are more connected than you’d expect. With roots as an artist, Dave brings a rare perspective to complex tech and business systems. From prior infographic posters that demystified RFID and Bluetooth when they first came out, to visual guides on inner transformation and his latest books, Dave's work simplifies the complicated and builds bridges for real understanding. With Dave we explore: What led Dave from agile software development to Liminal Thinking Why most Agile transformations fail  How to navigate confusing resistance—are people really lost, or just saying “no”? The principles behind creating safe spaces and disrupting unhelpful routines Visual and liminal thinking for fostering organic authentic change, not just communication tricks Raw observation vs. narrative: how perception can distort reality Why having lunch with someone you think is "crazy" or "stupid" might be the wisest move The psychology behind tech resistance, organizational inertia, and true agility We also revisit how Woody Zuill and our original Mob Programming team with Chris Lucian smashed the belief that “real work” only happens in cubicles and outside of "meetings." The mob origin story had Liminal Thinking on full display as that team reflected, questioned, and ultimately acted in defiance of broken norms. The result? A shift in how we define space, collaboration, and innovation as Dave captures in his book.  If you work in tech, lead change, facilitate teams, or just feel stuck inside outdated ways of working, this episode is for you. Video and Show Notes: https://youtu.be/fWF6kQBRdhg  

In this thought-provoking episode, we sit down with Tobias Mayer—author, coach, and longtime voice in the Agile world—to explore the journey from his early discovery of XP (Extreme Programming) in 1997 all the way to today’s debate around the death of Scrum. Tobias shares his personal transformation from developer to Scrum Master, his resistance to early XP, and how he learned great practices from developers he managed. We unpack his reflections on Agile’s semantic drift, the role of Scrum Masters as change agents vs. bean counters, and what happens when teams do Agile without even knowing the Agile Manifesto. 🔍 Topics we dive deep into: Discovering XP through a paper against it 😅 When “Scrum” became a buzzword and what was lost in translation What it really means to live the values of the Agile Manifesto XP coaches, grassroots change, and learning from your team The difference between top-down control and emergent discovery Misused metaphors in tech: “firefighting,” “war rooms,” “soldiers,” and more Are software teams more like engineers, artisans, or ensembles? Can DORA metrics (DevOps Research and Assessment) prove or disprove Agile’s effectiveness? We also dig into mob programming (aka mobbing)—what it means, why the name matters, and whether or not new metaphors like “ensemble programming” or “teaming” (à la Amy Edmondson) better reflect how high-performing teams really work. 💡 Plus: The problem with the Product Owner (PO) role in Scrum Why language in IT shapes behavior—for better or worse Applying Artful Making to modern product development Rethinking business through the lens of theatre, philosophy, and cooperative economics The importance of psychological safety, dissent, and experimentation in creating real agility Tobias brings rich context from classics, theology, and history—yes, even turning a conference t-shirt into fashion—to challenge how we think about building products, teams, and businesses. 🛠️ Whether you're into XP, Scrum, Mob Programming, Lean, or simply want to rethink your metaphors and language at work, this episode delivers grounded insight, sharp critique, and fresh perspectives. 👉 Subscribe for more conversations at the intersection of agile thinking, real teamwork, and modern product development. Video and show notes: https://youtu.be/ZFoY-De91BE   

🎙️ In this episode of The Mob Mentality Show, we’re joined by Professor Ben Kovitz—a former software developer with 15 years of industry experience who went on to earn a PhD and is now teaching Computer Science at Cal Poly Humboldt. Prof Ben flips the script and brings his own real-world mob programming questions—challenges he’s faced while mobbing live with college students in the classroom. This is not theory. These are hard-won questions from the trenches of mob programming in a learning environment, where curiosity meets complexity, and group dynamics get real. 🔍 We dive deep into 5 key challenges: 1. Deep Thought vs. Mob Timers: How do you carve out time to think deeply, explain thoroughly, or research ideas in a setting where timers tick every 3 minutes? Is it “wrong” to step away from the mob to figure something out? We discuss balancing solo exploration with group momentum, and how to build a culture that supports both. 2. Upfront Design or Just Start Mobbing? Do you need to pre-design work before mobbing, or can product discovery and agile planning happen in the mob itself? We explore Kanban, Continuous Delivery (CD), and even SPIDR story splitting as tools for flowing work in real time. 3. The Overrun Navigator: What happens when a mob gets too rowdy and drowns out the navigator—especially one who doesn’t yet know what to do? We unpack the difference between “good rowdy” energy and “bad rowdy” imbalance, and how facilitation, structured roles, or even a moment of silence can reset the team. 4. The Strong Opinion Navigator: Is it okay for someone with strong, often-correct opinions to mob effectively? How do we avoid stifling experimentation or learning? We tackle the value of letting experiments speak, coaching with humility, and using dominant voices to model vulnerability instead of control. 5. Mobbing with Documentation and AI: Should the mob read documentation together? What about using AI tools? We cover how teams can mob to teach effective doc reading, search strategies, and prompt engineering, while still adapting workflows to individual learning zones and WIP (Work in Progress) constraints. 💡 This episode is full of insights on: Group facilitation in real-time coding Balancing solo and group learning Creating psychological safety in a mob Adapting mob rules to context—not dogma Bringing agile, XP (Extreme Programming), and education together in the mobbing practice Video and Show Notes: https://youtu.be/nAAI5f7-vTs 

🏈 Welcome to another episode of the Mob Mentality Show, where we explore the intersection of software development, leadership, and real-world lessons—from the unexpected to the game-changing. This time, we're talking Coaching Credits—as seen in the addictive mobile football game Retro Bowl—and how they map directly to trust, influence, and leadership in software teams. 🎙️ What are Coaching Credits? In Retro Bowl, Coaching Credits represent the respect and trust you’ve earned from players, staff, and fans. They let you upgrade your team, hire top-tier talent, and level up your environment. In software development, we argue Coaching Credits are just as real—earned through Extreme Programming (XP), Mob Programming, Test-Driven Development (TDD), Continuous Delivery (CD), and strong relationship-building. 👶 Austin kicks it off with a story about trying to stay awake helping his wife with their new baby—turning to Retro Bowl as a late-night lifeline. That sparks a deep dive into what the game teaches us about: Building trust and respect through small wins The balance between performance and relationships Using “credits” (influence) wisely inside and outside your team How to upgrade your environment and talent pool over time What happens when you try to “spend” influence you don’t actually have 👨‍💻 In Dev Culture Terms: Earn trust by delivering value. Spend it by coaching others, refactoring code, upgrading environments, or influencing org-wide decisions. Just like in Retro Bowl, you can overreach. Think: trying a big move when your trust bank is empty = a bounced check. 📘 We also tie Coaching Credits to Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits—specifically, the idea of an emotional bank account—and reflect on how these lessons align with the origin story of mob programming. 🚨 Key Questions We Explore: Can you go into Coaching Credit “debt”? Is quick wins and trust the only way forward when you're starting from zero? Are you too transactional in how you lead or code? Should someone build a Software Dev Sim game like Retro Bowl? 😅 💡 If you're a software engineer, tech lead, or engineering manager, this episode offers a fun but surprisingly deep framework for thinking about how trust, respect, and influence shape the way you build products and teams. Video and Show Notes: https://youtu.be/ZWgOkphBFNI  

🎙️ Ever faced a product vision so massive it felt impossible to start? In this Mob Mentality Show episode, we tackle the art and science of Story Splitting — breaking down huge dreams into small, deliverable slices without losing momentum or clarity. We explore real-world strategies, including: Asking the hard questions like Do we really need to release everything at once? Using SPIDR (Spike, Path, Interface, Data, Rules) to guide story splitting Implementing Feature Flags (tools to enable/disable features without deploying new code) for flexible delivery Creating color-coded diagrams to visualize release order and dependencies Practicing "Yes, and" techniques to manage big customer asks without abandoning Agile values Running post-mortem retrospectives focused on improving splitting practices Mapping ideas with Discovery Trees (visual structures for feature evolution) Handling the tension between Big Bang marketing launches and incremental delivery Influencing sales and marketing teams to only sell what's already done vs. selling the future Identifying the impact of poor story splitting on technical debt and customer trust Differentiating splitting technical work vs. splitting user-facing features Teaching business stakeholders the fundamentals of CD (Continuous Delivery) and good story practices implicitly vs. explicitly   Working through known unknowns vs. unknown unknowns in product discovery Using the Cynefin Framework (a model for navigating complexity) to decide splitting approaches Prioritizing with cost of delay and story split diagrams to maximize value This episode is packed with hands-on advice for developers, product managers, Agile coaches, and leaders looking to move fast without breaking things. Whether you're struggling with overwhelming customer requests, complicated roadmaps, or internal misalignment, learning how to split the impossible is key to success in Agile, Continuous Delivery, and Lean Product Development. Video and Show Notes: https://youtu.be/MjwIkiM25xM