Mob Programming in College, Retro Edition: Ben Kovitz on What He Learned from a Semester of Mobbing

Описание: 📚 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.

Podcast Episode…
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0VYF...
PodBean: https://mobmentalityshow.podbean.com/...
Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7a6...

References…
Ben's LinkedIn:   / benkovitz  
How Software Prof Ben Kovitz Turned His Class into a Live Coding Mob:    • How Software Prof Ben Kovitz Turned His Cl...  
Mobbing Difficulties and How to Overcome Them - Ben Kovitz Asks Some Hard Questions:    • Mobbing Difficulties and How to Overcome T...  
Forming, Storming, Norming, & Performing:    • Forming, Storming, Norming, & Performing  
Satir Change Model:    • Satir Change Model  
The Fluent Edge of Learning: https://trello.com/c/IXAP6Nw6/319-the...
Deep Work book: https://trello.com/c/ZOqIuoNX/161-dee...
Gilded Rose Refactoring Kata: https://github.com/emilybache/GildedR...
Tennis Refactoring Kata: https://github.com/emilybache/Tennis-...
Ship of Theseus Analogy for Teams:    • Ship of Theseus Analogy for Teams  
Code Reading Club: https://codereading.club/
Joy, Inc. Book: https://www.amazon.com/Joy-Inc-Built-...
Mobbing, Education, and Learning Playlist:    • Mobbing, Education, and Learning  
Rebecca Wirfs-Brock: https://wirfs-brock.com/rebecca/
Woody Zuill:   / woodyzuill  
Jean Lave: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Lave
Professor Sherrene Bogle: https://www.humboldt.edu/computer-sci...
Shahzad Aslam-Mir:   / shahzad-aslam-mir-5b602a2  

Thanks to G-SLiK (  / g-slik  ) for the intro and outro music.

Chris Lucian and Austin Chadwick discuss all things #agile and product development from a #MobProgramming perspective.

Chris Lucian: https://www.chrislucian.com/p/chris-l...
Austin Chadwick:   / austin-chadwick-3a58151a4  

We would love your feedback and ideas for future episodes! Please add comments to the video or reach out to us on Twitter (   / mob__mentality   &   / christophlucian   ).

All statements and opinions expressed by Chris and Austin are solely their own and do not represent the views of any company. Chris and Austin are just sharing and not recommending ( https://justsharing.dev/ ).