I use PP in my work in a similar way - with newcomers (not necessarily unexperienced pragrammers). Usually this is one week period. After this all the goals listed below are usually met.

Goals:

2. Period of familiarization of a newcomer with the code base will be significantly reduced. When you need a man to be involved in your project and to get a result in two weeks this works perfectly.
3. You as a manager will understand how a man thinks. This will help you to work out an approach to work with him.
4. Unexperienced guy will catch how an experienced one works during coding.
5. Experienced guy will teach you a couple of nice how-to's.

I use PP in my work in a similar way - with newcomers (not necessarily unexperienced pragrammers). Usually this is one week period. After this all the goals listed below are usually met.

Goals:

2. Period of familiarization of a newcomer with the code base will be significantly reduced. When you need a man to be involved in your project and to get a result in two weeks this works perfectly.
3. You as a manager will understand how a man thinks. This will help you to work out an approach to work with him.
4. Newcomer will have an introduction of a coding culture of the project.
5. Unexperienced guy will catch how an experienced one works during coding. This will help to understand where to improve.
6. Experienced guy will teach you a couple of nice how-to's.