My opinion on pair programming is fairly neutral. I used to dread it, both because I'm fairly introverted myself and not very skilled on the social side, and be

My opinion on pair programming is fairly neutral. I used to dread it, both because I'm fairly introverted myself and not very skilled on the social side, and because it is so frequently the subject of scorn, but it turned out to be quite all right. I had some good experiences with it, and some not-so-good experiences. > It would ruin the quality of my life and my work environment. I, like most left-brained people, am an introvert and can’t comfortably tolerate that much company or social interaction. I find it VERY draining and aggravating. > None of this applies to me. > I believe that the strong producers and leaders in the software industry feel the same. The mediocre “cogs” (9-5ers that just want a paycheck) outnumber us and I suspect 40% or less of them might benefit from pair programming, which I suspect is where all the buzz about pair programming comes from. This person seems to be writing from a position of a lot of pain. Someone probably forced lots and lots of pair programming on them at some point, they really didn't like it, they're lashing out against it, and they're really afraid of any chance of it being popular. That is understandable. It really sucks when someone forces something on you that's against your nature. But that kind of thinking, that style of discourse, brings nothing to the table but more fear and pain and hostility between all the different groups of people. Please see this for what it is. It's very appealing, especially if you're more similar to the blog author, to join his ingroup and then look down on all the programmers who disagree with you and who like to go home after work and who you think are not as good as you. But what a poor place is an arena for figuring things out! If I think pair programming is good, I must be mediocre, and if I go home after work that only further proves the point. I may be driven, then, to spend more time worrying about being a mediocre cog, than about whether pair programming is good or not. Pair programming most likely suffers from the problem of human cooperation, in that it is rather difficult, and gets progressively more difficult the more advanced the task is, and the more subjective the solutions. It likely doesn't get any easier when those engaging in it also tend to, well, not mesh too well with each other. Such a thing should not be indiscriminately forced on everyone, especially those that do not want it. But that is no evidence that it is fundamentally good or bad. Granted, I'm likely mediocre, so my opinion means nothing.