> sometimes you [novice] just need to be able to show them [expert] what you’re doing without any specific question in mind

> the vast majority of learning comes from a novice watching how the expert plies their skills, and not from direct questions and answers

This succinctly describes why pair programming can be valuable when used judiciously.

I've seen large institutions hold long, boring "knowledge transfer" sessions where the expert explains the codebase to a group of novices but these are largely ineffective without practical experience.

Pair programming for a few weeks during the transition period (novice drives, expert advises) can be a more effective method to bring a novice up to speed. It works in remote environments, too, but does require synchronous time.