I've done pair programming (at an Extreme Programming shop).
There are lots of benefits to the practice in terms of knowledge transfer, catching bugs (and otherwise benefiting from having "two sets of eyes") and so on.
But ... it definitely lowers how much code you produce. Maybe two people work a little faster than one (maybe it only cuts velocity to 55% or 60%) ... but it definitely cuts output by a lot.
Pair programming is not about getting more done, it's about getting less done (but done better).
Comments
True!
That’s not how pair programming works.
I've done pair programming (at an Extreme Programming shop).
There are lots of benefits to the practice in terms of knowledge transfer, catching bugs (and otherwise benefiting from having "two sets of eyes") and so on.
But ... it definitely lowers how much code you produce. Maybe two people work a little faster than one (maybe it only cuts velocity to 55% or 60%) ... but it definitely cuts output by a lot.
Pair programming is not about getting more done, it's about getting less done (but done better).