you're missing the context of this thread. for the purpose of code quality/review, it can only work if the other person is a programmer.

I interpreted what they meant as "pairing doesnt work with non coders doing non coding design/architecture/requirements".

Not "pair programming doesnt work with non programmers doing pure programming" coz it doesnt make much sense why you'd even attempt to do that. They dont care and they will get in the way.