In 2012, I began collecting thoughts and learnings from pair programming in a long document that I thought could one day become a book. Last year, when engineers at Promptworks asked for some pair programming resources, I circulated the manuscript internally. Jon Long saw its potential and tipped off Katel LeDû, the CEO of A Book Apart, who got in touch about making it the next title in their Briefs collection.
Jeffrey Zeldman’s mailing-list-turned-website, A List Apart, guided me through my early years of web development. Authors like Eric Meyer, Dan Benjamin, and Joe Clark helped me navigate the gnarly years when there were fewer web standards and CSS hacks abounded to force browsers to render designs consistently. I still remember article titles from the early 2000s like Sliding Doors of CSS and Suckerfish Dropdowns.
So, it was a great honor that A Book Apart would even consider publishing my little book. They are particularly great at supporting first-time authors (which I am) and authors from marginalized and underrepresented communities within tech (which I support). ABA was a great partner for helping me refine and present my thoughts on what is surprisingly a controversial and nuanced subject.
Editors Lisa Maria Marquis and Sally Kerrigan helped me turn what I wanted to say into what people would want to read. They taught me the meaning of “kill your darlings” and forced me to rewrite loads of unnecessary, laborious, and ill-considered material. The editing process was brutal, but I’m so, so pleased with the result!
Practical Pair Programming is available from A Book Apart for $14 in paperback or $10 as an e-book. If you know of a group or class that would benefit from reading the book, let me know and my puplisher will send you a barely chewed evaluation copy!
