Pair programming is exhausting

(written by lawrence krubner, however indented passages are often quotes). You can contact lawrence at: lawrence@krubner.com, or follow me on Twitter.

This is true. When I work with another programmer, I suddenly have to focus 100%, and interact with someone too, straining the limits of both my technical abilities and my social skills. I can do this for 30 minutes, but if I had to do it all day, everyday, I would be utterly exhausted.

What about the downsides?
It’s not all peaches and cream of course – pairing all the time does have some downsides.

Tiring

Pairing can be exhausting. Not everybody thinks the same way and you’ve got to work through that with your pair. Sometimes it’s really fun to put on the headphones and just jam away on your own.

Short Term Gain

Short term gain is put aside for being able to move quicker in the future, which is hard to reconcile in the moment. With a small team of 4 engineers – that means we’re only making progress on two tracks on any given day.

Life happens

While we try to commit to 100% pairing, if someone is out sick or has to leave early, there’s always a chance of an odd-dev-out scenario. While these moments are few and far between, the occasions when it does happen can be jarring and break our flow.

Post external references

  1. 1
    http://eatcodeplay.com/why-we-killed-off-code-reviews/
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