---
name: Pair Programming
description: Two minds on one problem.
---
# Pair Programming

Pair on hard or risky work, not on routine typing. The value is design pressure and knowledge transfer, not doubling the keystrokes.

## Driver / Navigator
- **Driver** has the keyboard and thinks tactically (the next line, the immediate test).
- **Navigator** thinks strategically (are we solving the right problem, what edge case is coming, is this approach going to paint us into a corner).
- Swap every 20-30 minutes. Staying too long in one role wastes one mind.

## When it pays off
- Unfamiliar code or domain — one person's context lifts the other's faster than solo reading.
- Tricky algorithms or security-sensitive code — two sets of eyes catch the bug the solo author rationalizes away.
- Onboarding — the fastest knowledge transfer there is.

When it doesn't: mechanical changes, formatting sweeps, anything where the second mind is bored.