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Pair programming means double cost per developer. Is it worth that money?

Asked 2009-03-20T21:55:38.847
37

Pair programming in Agile requires us to double the salary paid to single programmer. Of course with such approach the quality of the code is far cry better, bugs are found much earlier and so forth, but is that still worth that money? Maybe we should pay the 2nd developer's salary to the few testers (the latter are usually much cheaper than the qualified programmer)? Does anybody have any experience with such comparison?

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2 Answers

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With pair programming, you combine:

  • Higher quality code
  • Better distribution of inner knowledge
  • More team spirit

You won't get that much return on investment easier than that.

Then again, you shouldn't use it for all tasks.

answered 2009-03-20T22:20:16.137
0

I haven't done the stats--and I suspect you'd have a hard time doing a statistically valid study--but keep in mind the ostensible objective of producing working, error-free code--not just quantity of code. A good pair should be able to create at least as much correct code as two programmers working separately.

answered 2009-04-20T04:42:26.857

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