I had an interesting discussion with someone I work with over pairing sessions today, and I was very impressed with his conclusion. This was, albeit subtle – ‘there are some people that you pair with, where the best of both of you come out in the code, and there are others, where the worst of both of you come out in the code’.
Too true… there are definite boundaries when pairing, and allowing your pair to explore the code within those boundaries, before reeling them in, is a good thing. However it is definitely down to the pair as to where those boundaries lie. Sometimes there may be no scope for allowing debt / poor quality code in, and in others, it may be acceptable as the pair trusts itself to go back and fix the poor quality code before (or immediately after) checking in.
