So this guy actually hired a girl from Craigslist to sit next to him all day and slap him in the face every time he went on Facebook or some other distracting site. While this may seem extreme, his productivity QUADRUPLED. He had two big conclusions from this experiment that I’d like to point out:
“If you add a social element to the work that you do, you will become more productive”
and
“Having another pair of eyes to go over my content drastically improved the quality of my work.”
Sound familiar?
If not, these are just some of the arguments for why Pair Programming is so effective. When programming alone, it’s hard to resist the occasional urge to go on Twitter or Facebook or Email or Hacker News or whatever your vice is, and these little interruptions really add up, especially since programming is one of those activities where you need to really stay focused to get into flow. With pair programming, you’re just not as likely to get as distracted.
This is one thing I keep in mind as I’m pair programming as a noob at my work at Manilla. While I’m still getting up to speed on the code, and I can’t contribute as much as I really would like to in a pair, I know that at least I’m making my pair a lot more productive while I’m learning the code base.
Learning... 
Leave a comment