I started with XP way back in 99 after following the discussions on OTUG and then the white book came out. I PP for 8 -> 9 years. Theres a bunch of things I l

I started with XP way back in 99 after following the discussions on OTUG and then the white book came out. I PP for 8 -> 9 years. Theres a bunch of things I learnt from that It is really good for improving everyones skills. There is a fast convergence in good way to do things The code quality is generally really good and people often develop good habits, everything gets discussed. It doesn't work so well when people are across different projects, much better if they are all on the same project. Teams reach a point where it doesn't actually matter if you pair or not, you tend to carry on making good code. It can slow down experienced devs and they often don't get the same kind of "flow / mental zone" of coding they can get by themselves. Developers need alone time to do their own coding experiments and to follow their own noses It 100% has to be done right and people need to be open to the idea, I went into other companies who were trying to do it and it was failing massively. There was animosity and a lack of openness to trying it. People really didn't understand why they should do it, and felt coerced and threatened by it all. Untangling those messes seemed ... unproductive :) It's exhausting. These days I don't see the need for full time pairing, I see it more as a tool that has certain outcomes, and you use that tool when you notice certain kinds of problems / weaknesses. I would think that teams should "pair" at some point, and by that I mean watch each other code and have interactive discussion about code as it gets developed.