Re: XP and Pair Programming

Phlip wrote: 
Christopher Barber wrote:


I have no doubt that you can produce better software w/ two heads instead of one. However, it is not at all clear that two people working a pair are twice as productive as one person, which is what it would take to break even. I doubt it. I think you are better off doing it only rarely and relying on reviews and frequent programmer interaction the rest of the time.


Pairing may or may not make implementing one feature in one module faster. The overall cumulative effects on an entire project are profound. Regardless of me pushing TDD to lower bug rates, teams can easily test-last, pair program, and achieve similar benefits.

Yes, I understand that. I am still not convinced that even in the long run that pairing will be more cost effective than some other strategy.

- C
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