and some people's brains just don't "work" like that. when someone else is talking, i try to listen, and i'll often lose my own thoughts. i also take time to put my thoughts into words, which the chattier end of people tend to take as an opportunity to speak into the void with filler, further distracting me and forcing me to try to listen, losing my thought.
some people's brains don't work in a way that "thinking out loud together" is an effective strategy.
That's fair enough. In such a case, I don't think pair-prog would be beneficial to apply every time for everything, certainly. However, I do think that small pair-prog timeboxed sessions might help developers to learn how to "think aloud" as a natural thing, where the goal is producing code while sharing knowledge at the same time.
There are different strategies for doing pair-prog. Developers could/should change roles and not always be the same drivers/navigators, for example.
I truly think pair-prog is a great practice for all developers who aim to work effectively within a team because it encourages communication between peers and a high-quality understanding of the business domain and technical knowledge.
That’s fair. I’m afraid a pair won’t stop talking and I won’t get a chance to think.