For some years now, pair programming has proven to be a great way to get some high quality code crafted together and to be a great way to share the knowledge about how and why the code was constructed.
You get all the benefits of having more eyes on the code along with the ability to verbalize the solution you are putting together, which enhances your problem solving skills dramatically.
Chatting about your code and elaborating about how and why you solve a particular problem creates new ways of seeing new solutions.
Also – pair programming can often just be more enjoyable than programming alone, because – who REALLY wants to be stuck only with your worst possible critic, yes: Yourself !
Blogging with others
But how about pair blogging or even group blogging – do they offer the same benefits as pair programming ?
I’ve done a fair amount of pair blogging the last few years and even contributed to a blog with 4 authors working together on a series of blogs, and this has proven to be a good experience to us all.
The process of writing a new blog usually starts with one blogger writing up a draft in a very short time, thus providing the raw material for the blog post.
This first draft contains the core subject of the blog entry as perceived by the blogger and the process of constructing a common view on the blog subject then begins.
The second blogger picks up the thread and maybe starts by checking the facts stated in the blog post to see if they are correct. Or he/she adds comments about the views expressed in the blog and asks questions to expand on certain topics.
Some way during the blogging process, a Skype meeting is very handy to discuss the blog post and what to do about it.
The end product is usually a nicely written blog post, which has some other quality than blog posts like this one you’re reading right now – written by a single blogger, without other kind, but critical eyes on it before it is published
A final thing on collaborative blogging is the positive side effect of the process, where new ideas spring to mind about other relevant blog themes.
When more brains are put to work, new ideas spark to life and new blog entries take life, perhaps when the original blog covers too many themes and needs to be taken apart.
If you do a lot of blogging already, I would highly recommend you to try out collaborative blogging to see the effects of it.
At the very least you will have someone to catch those tricky typos, that sneak by us all when writing blog posts alone