It is very dangerous to fall into the “trap” of not pair programming a particular task and then ending up not pair programming at all.

I find that most tasks I intuitively feel are wrong for pair programming really are. Personally, I expect that talking about a codebase as I explore it with a partner is much more fun and effective than doing it alone. But I might be wrong.

However, there is one reason not to pair program for a while that you should always allow: If you're just too tired. :-)

One question: do you find pair programming to be equally effective for all types of programming work? Ie. if you are able, will you reach for this tool all the time, for all tasks? I hear some people say this, and it feels like “Golden Hammer Syndrome”…

For example: sometimes I need to wrap my head around a big/new problem. This can entail jumping around the codebase, reading code, writing some explorative tests. Having a concurrent conversation with someone else can be really irritating and distracting at that point.

To put it a different way: I feel that some tasks benefit from collaboration/conversation, while other tasks are easier to get done with some peace and quiet (ref the debate on enclosed offices vs open offices, see PeopleWare by DeMarco etc) What's your opinion on this?

Would love to pair program consistently over a longer period to make up my mind about it! :)

It is very dangerous to fall into the “trap” of not pair programming a particular task and then ending up not pair programming at all.

I find that most tasks I intuitively feel are wrong for pair programming really are. Personally, I expect that talking about a codebase as I explore it with a partner is much more fun and effective than doing it alone. But I might be wrong.

However, there is one reason not to pair program for a while that you should always allow: If you're just too tired. :-)

One question: do you find pair programming to be equally effective for all types of programming work? Ie. if you are able, would you reach for this tool all the time, for all tasks?

For example: sometimes I need to wrap my head around a big/new problem. This can entail jumping around the codebase, reading code, writing some explorative tests. Having a concurrent conversation with someone else can be really irritating and distracting at that point.

To put it a different way: I feel that some tasks benefit from collaboration/conversation, while other tasks are easier to get done with some peace and quiet (ref the debate on enclosed offices vs open offices, see PeopleWare by DeMarco etc) What's your opinion on this?

Would love to pair program consistently over a longer period to make up my mind about this! :)