Driver Navigator Pairing

​​ Pair programming is a well know concept, but the driver navigator concept is a little less known. I heard a great explanation of this recently which I wanted to share. Driving around New York can be tricky, even for someone very experienced….much like programming.

Regardless of how experienced you are at driving, having a partner next to you pointing out when lights are red you can still turn right and when/where you need to turn can be useful.

When pair programming this is much the same. People often refer to the person using the keyboard as driving. The person in the pair who is aiding the “direction” of the code and looking out for problems is the navigator.

Thinking of pairing in this way is useful as it stops some common pair progreamming pitfalls (such as the person without the keyboard thinking it’s time to browse facebook). It also helps the navigator focus the mind on appropriate instruction, discussion, coaching or feedback to be giving

Hope this helps