Interesting paper by Jan Chong and Tom Hurlbutt at Stanford University.
Here's the Abstract:
This paper presents data from a four month ethno-(Link to PDF version or Google HTML view)
graphic study of professional pair programmers from
two software development teams. Contrary to the cur-
rent conception of pair programmers, the pairs in this
study did not hew to the separate roles of “driver” and
“navigator”. Instead, the observed programmers
moved together through different phases of the task,
considering and discussing issues at the same strategic
“range” or level of abstraction and in largely the same
role. This form of interaction was reinforced by fre-
quent switches in keyboard control during pairing and
the use of dual keyboards. The distribution of expertise
among the members of a pair had a strong influence on
the tenor of pair programming interaction. Keyboard
control had a consistent secondary effect on decision-
making within the pair. These findings have implica-
tions for software development managers and practi-
tioners as well as for the design of software develop-
ment tools.
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