In this paper, pair programming is empirically investigated from the perspective of developer personalities and temperaments and how they affect pair effectiveness. A controlled experiment was conducted to investigate the impact of developer personalities and temperaments on communication, pair performance and pair viability-collaboration. The experiment involved 70 undergraduate students and the objective was to compare pairs of heterogeneous developer personalities and temperaments with pairs of homogeneous personalities and temperaments, in terms of pair effectiveness. Pair effectiveness is expressed in terms of pair performance, measured by communication, velocity, design correctness and passed acceptance tests, and pair collaboration-viability measured by developers' satisfaction, knowledge acquisition and participation. The results have shown that there is important difference between the two groups, indicating better communication, pair performance and pair collaboration-viability for the pairs with heterogeneous personalities and temperaments. In order to provide an objective assessment of the differences between the two groups of pairs, a number of statistical tests and stepwise Discriminant Analysis were used.

In this paper we discuss our empirical study about the advantages and difficulties 15 Greek software companies experienced applying Extreme Programming (XP) as a holistic system in software development. Based on a generic XP system including feedback influences and using a cause-effect model including social-technical affecting factors, as our research tool, the study statistically evaluates the application of XP practices in the software companies being studied. Data were collected from 30 managers and developers, using the sample survey technique with questionnaires and interviews, in a time period of six months. Practices were analysed individually, using Descriptive Statistics (DS), and as a whole by building up different models using stepwise Discriminant Analysis (DA). The results have shown that companies, facing various problems with common code ownership, on-site customer, 40-hour week and metaphor, prefer to develop their own tailored XP method and way of working-practices that met their requirements. Pair programming and test-driven development were found to be the most significant success factors. Interactions and hidden dependencies for the majority of the practices as well as communication and synergy between skilled personnel were found to be other significant success factors. The contribution of this preliminary research work is to provide some evidence that may assist companies in evaluating whether the XP system as a holistic framework would suit their current situation.

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