Originally posted by R. M. Menon:
Can we eliminate or have a revised version of pair programming when practising XP?
Hi R. M.,
Although I don't recommend it, you can eliminate (or postpone) pair programming while performing the other XP practices. If you do this, you need to find another way to gain the benefits of pair programming. Specifically, you probably need:
* additional and regular code review
* greater discussion of the code and its state to spread knowledge around the team, perhaps in weekly study groups
* more discipline to stay on task while developing
* a greater concern for energized work
I expect that a team performing pair programming will have a smaller defect rate than a team that programs solo, for example, and I expect there to be greater technical debt in the solo team. Nothing else shares knowledge quite as much as promiscuous pairing, in my experience, and it's a bit of a risk to get rid of it.
It's a manageable risk, though, if you know what you're missing.