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Welcome! In this lesson, we’ll explore two powerful practices—co-creating and mobbing—that enhance collaboration, shared ownership, and quality in DevOps teams.

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Why Co-creating and Mobbing Matter

Co-creating and mobbing bring the whole team together around a single goal or problem, unlocking benefits such as:
  • Real-time idea sharing
  • Continuous learning and upskilling
  • Collective institutional knowledge
  • Improved efficiency and automation
By aligning everyone on the same task, you reduce errors, minimize rework, and speed up future delivery cycles.
The image illustrates the concept of co-creating and mobbing in DevOps, featuring two people collaborating at a desk with a puzzle piece thought bubble above them. There's also a small inset of a person speaking in the bottom right corner.
Successful co-creating or mobbing sessions require clear goals, a shared workspace (physical or virtual), and rotating roles to keep everyone engaged.

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Defining Co-creating vs. Mobbing

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Co-creating

Each team member works from their own workstation, contributing code, diagrams, or documentation into a shared repo or platform. This approach lets individuals iterate simultaneously while maintaining collective visibility.

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Mobbing

One person “drives” at a central system—often projected for the group—while everyone else observes, reviews, and suggests improvements. The driver implements the team’s consensus in real time.
PracticeTypical SetupCore ActivityKey Benefit
Co-creatingIndividual workstations synced to a shared repoParallel contributionsSpeed through concurrent updates
MobbingSingle screen/projector in a war-room or callGroup-guided implementationHigh-quality, shared understanding
The image features a diagram illustrating "Co-creating and Mobbing" with interconnected circles representing collaboration, and a person speaking in the bottom right corner.

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Pair Programming vs. Mob Programming

Pair and mob programming are focused forms of these techniques:
MethodParticipantsRolesOutcome
Pair Programming2 developersDriver & NavigatorRapid feedback and mentorship
Mob Programming3+ developersDriver & CollaboratorsBroad knowledge transfer, fewer defects
  • Pair programming is ideal for onboarding or tackling complex logic.
  • Mob programming shines when you need immediate consensus across multiple stakeholders.
The image explains pair and mob programming with diagrams showing two developers working together in pair programming and a team working together in mob programming. There's also a person in the bottom right corner.

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Quality Today, Speed Tomorrow

Investing a bit of extra time now—by pairing or mobbing—yields long-term dividends:
  • Fewer production defects
  • Less rework and firefighting
  • Sustainable, well-documented solutions
  • Distributed expertise across the team
Avoid endless mob sessions without clear goals. Time-box your collaboration rounds to keep momentum and focus.
The image is a presentation slide titled "Co-creating and Mobbing – Quality Today, Speed Later," showing a graph with an upward trend indicating benefits like fewer errors, less rework, and more sustainable solutions. In the bottom right corner, there's a person speaking.

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Summary

Whether you’re co-creating documents or mobbing through code, these collaborative practices will:
  1. Increase long-term quality by embedding best practices from the start
  2. Foster team cohesion with shared problem-solving
  3. Accelerate future delivery by reducing defects and onboarding time
  4. Distribute knowledge evenly across all members
The image is a summary slide about "Co-creating and Mobbing," highlighting key points about these group concepts to enhance collaboration and output. It includes four main points and a small video thumbnail of a person speaking.

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