Seven habits of pair programming

From L. Williams and R. Kessler: Pair Programming Illuminated, Addison-Wesley, 2002

1. Take breaks
   "At a minimum, each hour stand up, stretch, and look at something more than three feet away."
2. Practice humility
   "Learn to laugh at yourself" "Take the opportunities to learn and teach as they arise."
3. Be confident/Be receptive
   "no one knows everything" "Blame for problems ... should never be placed on either partner."
4. Communicate
   "When I pair, 15 seconds without talking is a very long time; 30 seconds is an eternity."
   Practice reflective articulation: "As the driver, vocalize what you are doing as you are doing it."
5. Listen
   "Seek first to understand, then to be understood." (Covey 1989)
6. Be a team player
   "If you are a navigator, you should feel confident that you can take over as driver at any moment."
   "If you don't understand what's going on, ask!"
7. Balance between compromise and standing firm
   "For favorable idea exchange, there should be some healthy disagreement/debate." [...but...] "Choose your battles wisely."