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.

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