Think of the last time you were in a conversation with 1 person in a busy restaurant. Was it distracting to hear others having conversations? Did it propel your conversation at all, or maybe give you something to talk about? When people talk about the buzz of activity in a busy place, it's really closer to a situation like this.

Individuals doing solo work are often distracted by background noise, and even I do! But in pairs, it doesn't seem to have quite the same effect in my experience.

On the planning part, I know a lot of pairs that set up small daily roadmaps to stay on track. Totally normal, and also totally ephemeral as well. Usually an updated plan is drawn every day since the pair might change.