I have done pair programming in the past. Sometimes we get a lot of benefit from it. However this is not an XP technique that is used often by programmers. In my own project, it is hard because the team is spread out all over the place geographically. Is it possible to conduct pair programming remotely?One columnist tried it out. He found that tools were not mature enough to handle this. His system froze a lot. In the end, they just tried a virtual connection. It is better to do pair programming in person.
Pair programming in general helps eliminate distractions you would encounter if you were on your own. However it may impede progress. Most devs feel that they can accomplish more on their own. But the real question is whether pair programming improves code quality. I don’t think the verdict is in yet on that decision.
