Friday, June 02, 2006

Comparing Pair Programming to Solo Programming

Brian Slesinsky wrote recently comparing Pair Programming to Code Reviews and argues that Pair Programming is better. I agree with his reasoning. I also think we need more hard-data on comparison of pairing vs. solo programming. It is a multi-dimensional issue, involving at least:
  • Total developer time spent.
  • Code quality and increase/reduction in the cost of product quality (more bugs == higher cost.)
  • Time-to-market. Two people spending 70 hours in parallel is faster to market than one person spending 100 hours.
  • Personalities and social dynamics. People have widely differing and strong held feelings about pairing vs. solo programming.

Technorati Tags: , , , , , ,

No comments: