This is definitely YMMV territory. On the whole, I think a formal pair programming process is probably a bad idea. I wouldn't want to work somewhere where I had

This is definitely YMMV territory. On the whole, I think a formal pair programming process is probably a bad idea. I wouldn't want to work somewhere where I had to play that game. Perhaps, that just means I would be a poor choice for such a company. :) However, I wonder how many of the "great" who's-who of programmers would have actually liked such a process; sure, you can find some examples, probably, but I doubt many. It's probably a personality thing. If two people are so in sync that they can code without slowing each other down or getting in the way of each other thinking through complex ideas then they probably should be pair programming, but I just wonder how much of that really exists. I think many of us program at our best with a little solitude. Now, I do think "pair programming" can be beneficial with solving a particular problem but this is like something everyone should know just from life.