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Surely two people sitting together doing countless other jobs you would see the same benefits. Why has programming been singled out for this practice?

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I think programming has been "singled out" for this because you're much more likely to read about "pair programming" than "pair anything else"--you are, after all, a programmer yourself! – Tikhon Jelvis May 6 '11 at 18:48

migrated from stackoverflow.com May 6 '11 at 13:32

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It actually hasn't been singled out at all. Think about the terminology: driver and navigator. Commercial aviation has long benefitted from this technique with pilots and copilots. Most jobs where detail is extremely important can benefit from working in pairs. You will never see a brain surgeon alone in a surgery room hacking away; the team around him are checking over the work, making sure the surgeon is not forgetting anything (like a sponge).

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+1 for providing the actual examples in other professions. – Dan McGrath May 6 '11 at 14:31
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Any job that requires more thinking than actual manual work benefits from pairing.

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