« Observational learning in teams

On wikipedia there’s an amazing page about learning, and I’m more than anything else interested in the Observational learning.

Learning is the acquisition and development of memories and behaviors, including skills, knowledge, understanding, values, and wisdom. It is the goal of education, and the product of experience.

Why Observational learning? Pairing in an XP team is the perfect environment for Observational learning.

Example can be a motivation for learning. Imitation of a role model is a natural mechanism for infants and children, when learning from experience. Child’s play is another method for learning by the example of other children, who naturally gain satisfaction by playing the role of teacher or mentor to a less-experienced child.

What’s the Example then? Talking about code it’s the code base.The code base is your friend, coding having a look on how solving the same problem has been already solved makes easier to solve it again, keeps the code base consistent and helps to find patterns, to tackle the technical debt, etc.Talking about Methologies, it works well as well. The Example it’s just the behaviour of the coach/mentor. It’s again very interesting on the page what are the required conditions for a successful learning:

• Attention to the model

A person must first pay attention to a person engaging in a certain behavior (the model).

• Retention of details

Once attending to the observed behavior, the observer must be able to effectively remember what the model has done.

• Motor reproduction

The observer must be able to replicate the behavior being observed. For example, juggling cannot be effectively learned by observing a model juggler if the observer does not already have the ability to perform the component actions (throwing and catching a ball).

• Motivation and Opportunity

The observer must be motivated to carry out the action they have observed and remembered, and must have the opportunity to do so. For example, a suitably skilled person must want to replicate the behavior of a model juggler, and needs to have an appropriate number of items to juggle at hand.

What really works well in an XP team as well is the Informal way we teach and learn stuff and we the spread the knowledge across the team. The performance over time in an XP team is different from the one shown on the picture.