An initial exploration of the relationship between pair programming and Brooks´ law

Through his law, "adding manpower to a late software project makes it later,\´\´ Brooks asserts that the assimilation, training, and intercommunication costs of adding new team members outweigh the associated team productivity gain in the short term. Anecdotes suggest that adding manpower to a late project yields productivity gains to the team more quickly if the team employs the pair programming technique when compared to teams where new team members work alone. We utilize a system dynamics model which demonstrates support of these observations. Parameter values for the model were obtained via a small-scale, nonprobabilistic, convenience survey. Our initial findings suggest that managers should incorporate the pair programming practice when growing their team.