I have been the stand-alone programmer in our MIS department for a few years now. We are finally able to hire another programmer and I am really looking forward to having a collaborator. I am wondering if it seems reasonable in a shop this small to try paired programming. I have done paired programming on some side work and think it can be an effective way to get good applications. I think it might work pretty well at work, plus it provides a way to insure that both of us will have some background in the custom applications we develop in-house. Does anyone out there have an opinion on this? Have you tried it in very small shops? I know we need to hire someone open to paired programming, but after that, do you think it could work?
