ive worked with a lot of different programers over the years,
Alex Austin (gish / blast miner / blood car)
Florian Himsl ( Isaac, coil, trichanid, cunt )
Tyler Glaiel ( aether, Avgm, basement collection )
William Good ( Time Fcuk )
Eli aka 2darray ( Spewer )
John mcentee ( meat boy )
Caulder Bradford ( all the games in the badlands series )
and mr Refenes ( SMB, Grey Matter, Mewgenics and secret game X Y and Z )
working with each of them was very different and i usually customize the design of the game to fit the strengths of the programmer (if im designing from the ground up) or in some cases ill be designing around an established engine the programmer made or uses.
sometimes its easy, sometimes its boring and sometimes things just go sour quickly.
its easy to work with tommy because he can do anything, there are no limitations and hes simply the best and most versatile programmer ive worked with and one of few i get a long with very very well.
florian, though he has his flash limitations was someone i gravitated towards because he was simply down with whatever i wanted to do content wise. some of my more experimental and risky projects were with him.
the best situations are simply how well the 2 of you work together and get along.. a strained working relationship can be a very stressful thing to deal with so just watch out for warning signs!