Distributed-Pair Programming can work well and is not just Distributed Pair-Programming
This addresses the effectiveness of distributed pair programming for software developers, showing it can be as good as local methods when skillfully applied, though it is incremental.
The study investigated how skilled distributed pair programmers manage awareness deficits and concurrent editing freedom in a distributed IDE, finding that they can bridge these challenges and potentially achieve better fluency than local pair programming.
Background: Distributed Pair Programming can be performed via screensharing or via a distributed IDE. The latter offers the freedom of concurrent editing (which may be helpful or damaging) and has even more awareness deficits than screen sharing. Objective: Characterize how competent distributed pair programmers may handle this additional freedom and these additional awareness deficits and characterize the impacts on the pair programming process. Method: A revelatory case study, based on direct observation of a single, highly competent distributed pair of industrial software developers during a 3-day collaboration. We use recordings of these sessions and conceptualize the phenomena seen. Results: 1. Skilled pairs may bridge the awareness deficits without visible obstruction of the overall process. 2. Skilled pairs may use the additional editing freedom in a useful limited fashion, resulting in potentially better fluency of the process than local pair programming. Conclusion: When applied skillfully in an appropriate context, distributed-pair programming can (not will!) work at least as well as local pair programming.