Facilitating a coding dojo

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Introducing coding dojo to a new group could be challenging. I facilitated quite a few dojo sessions, here are the rule of thumbs:

• We need at least 90 minutes to 2 hours
• If the audience haven’t tried test driven design before, we need to give them brief  introduction to:
  • red-green-refactor concept
  • 2 roles of pair programming: driver and navigator
• Then we can introduce the dojo procedure
• Ask a participant to start pairing with you
• Each pair work on 1 to 2 red-green-refactor cycles
• Some participant might start writing production code before reaching red bar, or start refactoring in red bar, we need to remind him or her
• Some pair might go stuck for a minute or two, usually it’s a good idea to move to next pair
• The group might or might not finish the kata within time frame (about 50/50) especially the first time

Facilitated or participating in a coding dojo could be a challenging yet fun and rewarding experience if we do it the right way.