1/ There had been a lot of talk about "10x engineers" on Twitter, in the recent past. Some voices went as far as hinting at "10x engineers" being bad for teams / businesses. Those people obviously go way too far. I think the discussion should be much more nuanced. Here's my take
2/ Most people are average by definition. Most people, however, are really good at *something*. And there are some people who are plain simply excellent at *something*. Their excellency may go as far as being 10x as productive as the average. Sounds great! So what's the problem?
3/ Working with someone 10x as good as ourselves can be equally inspiring as it can be frustrating. They're great and make the work they do look much more interesting. Quite possibly, we can learn a lot from them as well. But they're also much much better, and we might never be
4/ as good as them, and that can be frustrating, because unreachable goals are frustrating. But wait! When did we make it our goal to be as good as them? An analogy (risking the application of Lukas's Law of Analogies: )
5/ I play the piano. One of my childhood friends is a professional piano player today and he's really really good. We once used to be at a comparable level as small kids. He keeps flattering me, telling me I was better at the time, which is nonsense ;) While I could hide behind
6/ the excuse that I didn't choose the professional piano player career path, I simply believe I will never be as good as him. I still play the piano occasionally, and there are many things I simply can't hammer into my head / hands. That doesn't frustrate me, because:
7/ 1) I don't have to be good at the piano. It's just a hobby, for me. 2) I don't play with him these days, so I don't have to compare myself to him directly.
8/ Yes, 10x engineers are much more difficult to put in teams, if they can't elevate everyone else to their levels, and mostly they cannot. And that can be OK, because there's always a way to organise the teams in a way to make them work with either
9/ 1) other 10x engineers. 2) isolated projects where they don't have too much of a team. There's always work in every organisation that can be done by someone excellent, alone. The main point of this discussion should be:
10/ 10x engineers are people too, and they (like everyone else) need an environment that helps them be great as well. Everyone has their own special needs, and managers' jobs is to understand each person individually. Levelling the team to the average and excluding the "10x-ers"
11/ because it's more difficult to integrate them is simply wasteful and unfair. If you have one, use them to the best of their potential. Just like everyone else on the team. Maybe, someone is a 4x requirements engineer. Someone else is a 7x QA engineer.
12/ Someone is a 3.0000000000000004x floating point engineer. And some are so lucky to be good at almost everything they touch. Simply remember, if they're not also a 10x teaching or team engineer, don't make them be. Leave them to their solo performance. Like a piano player.
13/ So, be a 10x manager and get the best out of *every* one of your employees by responding to their needs.
FIN.
FIN.
