Lies we tell ourselves: the 10xEngineer

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Lies we tell ourselves: the 10xEngineer




The Lab Zero team has seen plenty of the good, the bad, and the ugly in 
the years we've been working in the software  development world. 

In this and the next couple videos, I'll talk about the 'bad' highlighting some of the lies we tell 
ourselves. First on my  list is the 10x engineer/developer - a mythical creature sought by many. 

Have you worked with a 10x engineer/developer? What was your experience?






Hey, this is Chris with Lab Zero. In my last video I mentioned that the Lab Zero team has seen 
'The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly' in working on software
product development over the years. And in this and the next couple 
videos I want to talk about 'The Ugly' - and specifically
The Lies We Tell ourselves in the
software product world. 

The first lie I'll talk about is the 10x engineer. Perhaps you've heard it? 
The Lie goes something like this: the 10x engineer is an individual who will 
come join your team and do 10 times the work of a normal mortal. They will
spray ten times the lines of code all over your source code repository. They will
move 10 times the tickets... And um we know that to be a lie, right? 

Let's talk about the truth. The truth is: these are well-rounded individuals 
who can think clearly about complex problems. They are very unlikely to solve a
problem with software, unless it's really clear that there's a solution there. 
They want to write just enough software, with just enough quality so that the
problem gets solved - and they don't have to get a page in the middle of the night
or get called into work on the weekend (or whatever, remotely). 

The 10x developers that I know have people skills. And they are just
as likely to be able to get a group of people together to solve a complex
problem as they are able to do anything on their own. 

They have no pride in the amount of code that they deliver, or the amount of lines
of code that they check into a repository. If anything, quite the
opposite! They're going to be proud of the lines of code that they removed from
a repository. They want to be known as the people who are taking out the unused
stuff -- refactoring to make simple and clear all of those parts of the
application which are critical and important to your business. 

These are people who do not want to save your company. They're going to look at
the need for heroics as a problem. Frankly, your plan should be working. The
fact that they have those skills -- great. But they don't want to be pulling those
things out all day, every day, on the weekend, and at the night. 

Have you worked with 10x developers over the years? What is your experience in
working with them? Share your notes or your comments below. I would love to hear
from you! 

Oh, and call out anything that you think is baloney that I just told you
I'll follow this up with some other 'Lies That We Tell Ourselves' soon so stay
tuned. 

Thanks, this is Chris with Lab Zero!




#10x #heroics #ugly #10xengineer #10xdeveloper #productivity #lieswetellourselves #lies #experience 
#engineer #developer #softwaredevelopment #team


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