[josephferano]

I was very surprised when I read the part about pair programming. Am I the only one who finds pair programming to be highly productive? I find that when someone is sitting next to me or watching me screen-cast and I'm explaining out-loud my thought process, my ability to focus and zone in goes through the roof. A human rubber ducky, if you want.

I will grant the possibility that I have bad habits when it comes to work and I get easily distracted when I'm programming by myself. Having someone there effectively mitigates this and the lifestyle choices that negatively impact my ability to focus for long periods of times. So perhaps there's an untapped flow state that is even better than pair programming.

While I figure this out for myself, I still can't deny the fact that the last few times I've truly been in the zone have been with someone looking at/hearing me code.

[patrick451]

Not at all. My productivity drops below zero in these situations.