At Clearsenses, I enforce pair programming as a loose practice for all the verticals that I lead. I saw this recent article about the lead programmers of the Samba project talking about how effective pair programming is for them. And of course, a whole bunch of reddit comments dissing them.

The nature of the programmer

I think all programmers walk with a huge ego around them - and I think that is a good thing. People who think of their code as their jijutsu are some ofot t the most interesting people to learn from. But that ego goes with a fear of not being good enough - the classic adage of  ”no matter how fast you are or how strong you are, there is always someone faster or stronger”.

And that affects productivity.

It affects the way you think about problems, about code and about practices. Not that you should not have an opinion (and a strong one at that). But why not open yourself up to the opportunity that your opinion is wrong ?

Its pretty much like asking a pretty girl out for a date - you are the pretty girl ;)  If you are convinced that no guy in dis town is interesting enough, you give up the opportunity to be seduced.

And all code is, of course, poetry.