Ownership

One of the concerns that comes up on my team when we talk about switching pairs is that people want to finish what they started. I read this quote today and made me think about this problem.

I like to break stories into tasks that individuals take responsibility for
and estimate. I think ownership of tasks goes a long way towards satisfying the human need for ownership.
—Beck [2005]

It got me thinking that if we could make our tasks small enough that these task could be completed in 3 hours then people would be able to finish their work before they switched pairs.