4 ms·

I may have missed this part in the article, but the "0.1x" moniker, as a reaction to the "10x" label... seems to miss the point. The "10x" type folks I know ar

I may have missed this part in the article, but the "0.1x" moniker, as a reaction to the "10x" label... seems to miss the point. The "10x" type folks I know are "10 times as productive" as others precisely because they know how to deal with some of those issues in the 0.1x list - push off new features, reduce amount of new tech introduced, drop old features, etc. Knowing how to focus on the things that provide the most value in the least effort - but still move the project forward - that's where my understanding of the 10x label always was based. Maybe I'd had it wrong and people were always focused on "lines of code"? Or maybe this was the point the OP was making anyway, but it went over my head. I know only a handful of places that have ever really looked at pure "output" (of code, for example) as the primary productivity measure.

SomeCallMeTim 11y ago
>Maybe I'd had it wrong and people were always focused on "lines of code"? No, the original studies talked about 10x productivity, not 10x lines of code. The more productive developers also produced fewer lines of code for similarly complex tasks, and it was easier to debug, to understand, and to modify. They also frequently would produce net-negative-lines-of-code on productive days. Article is clickbait with a strawman premise, no question. I think it particularly attracts the clicks of 1x developers who like to think the 10x developers aren't anything special. There are certainly many more 1x developers. The top-voted comment as I write this frames someone who recommends WordPress as a solid engineer. Enough said.
- mgkimsal 11y ago
  Yeah, agreed on who this may appeal to. Personally, I don't think I'm necessarily one of those "10x" devs, but... then I work around many other folks on different projects, and I see the extremely wide range of skills and productivity levels. The wider range I see the harder it is to judge. (and... judging doesn't normally net me anything except feeling better or usually much worse about myself!)
- st3v3r 11y ago
  "The top-voted comment as I write this frames someone who recommends WordPress as a solid engineer. Enough said." What's this mean? The top-voted comment describes a scenario in which WordPress does meet the business needs, and yet two others decide to go and write from-scratch code. Whereas the other one has time to actually solve the problems the business has. If you're trying to be a WordPress snob, then you're missing the point entirely.
  - SomeCallMeTim 11y ago
    WordPress-as-a-service can meet business needs. But WordPress is an awful idea outside of that. Someone is needed full time to keep it and its plug-ins patched. I would laugh at just about anyone who suggested a self-hosted WordPress as a reasonable solution to anything. There are other sites where you can get managed CMS hosting (wix.com, squarespace.com, even wpengine.com etc.) to build a CMS on. To suggest that "WordPress" is a good solution at this point should get you laughed out of the room. wpengine.com is a reasonable solution. "WordPress", hosted on your own server, is a disaster waiting to happen. I actually tried building something, not on WordPress, but Drupal, and as a result can't imagine recommending anything that's PHP-based being a good technical solution. Call me a PHP snob then. It's so horrible to work with I can't imagine that other solutions can't be better.
    - st3v3r 11y ago
      So one, you completely missed the part about her suggesting a hosted solution, and two, you're being a snob about stuff for no other reason than to be a snob. I don't think anyone can take your assessments about this stuff seriously.
      - SomeCallMeTim 11y ago
        >So one, you completely missed the part about her suggesting a hosted solution Hosted != wpengine.com, hosted can mean a managed site with CPanel installed. > you're being a snob about stuff for no other reason than to be a snob No, I avoid using or recommending technology that is insecure-by-design. That includes PHP and just about everything built on it. >I don't think anyone can take your assessments about this stuff seriously. Considering how much I make consulting about "this stuff," I have no worry about how seriously I'm taken. Sorry if I've offended a technology you like, but it's really pretty awful.
st3v3r 11y ago
Originally the 10x moniker was like that. However, like many things, it's been twisted from it's original form.

SomeCallMeTim 11y ago

>Maybe I'd had it wrong and people were always focused on "lines of code"? No, the original studies talked about 10x productivity, not 10x lines of code. The more productive developers also produced fewer lines of code for similarly complex tasks, and it was easier to debug, to understand, and to modify. They also frequently would produce net-negative-lines-of-code on productive days. Article is clickbait with a strawman premise, no question. I think it particularly attracts the clicks of 1x developers who like to think the 10x developers aren't anything special. There are certainly many more 1x developers. The top-voted comment as I write this frames someone who recommends WordPress as a solid engineer. Enough said.

mgkimsal 11y ago
Yeah, agreed on who this may appeal to. Personally, I don't think I'm necessarily one of those "10x" devs, but... then I work around many other folks on different projects, and I see the extremely wide range of skills and productivity levels. The wider range I see the harder it is to judge. (and... judging doesn't normally net me anything except feeling better or usually much worse about myself!)
st3v3r 11y ago
"The top-voted comment as I write this frames someone who recommends WordPress as a solid engineer. Enough said." What's this mean? The top-voted comment describes a scenario in which WordPress does meet the business needs, and yet two others decide to go and write from-scratch code. Whereas the other one has time to actually solve the problems the business has. If you're trying to be a WordPress snob, then you're missing the point entirely.
- SomeCallMeTim 11y ago
  WordPress-as-a-service can meet business needs. But WordPress is an awful idea outside of that. Someone is needed full time to keep it and its plug-ins patched. I would laugh at just about anyone who suggested a self-hosted WordPress as a reasonable solution to anything. There are other sites where you can get managed CMS hosting (wix.com, squarespace.com, even wpengine.com etc.) to build a CMS on. To suggest that "WordPress" is a good solution at this point should get you laughed out of the room. wpengine.com is a reasonable solution. "WordPress", hosted on your own server, is a disaster waiting to happen. I actually tried building something, not on WordPress, but Drupal, and as a result can't imagine recommending anything that's PHP-based being a good technical solution. Call me a PHP snob then. It's so horrible to work with I can't imagine that other solutions can't be better.
  - st3v3r 11y ago
    So one, you completely missed the part about her suggesting a hosted solution, and two, you're being a snob about stuff for no other reason than to be a snob. I don't think anyone can take your assessments about this stuff seriously.
    - SomeCallMeTim 11y ago
      >So one, you completely missed the part about her suggesting a hosted solution Hosted != wpengine.com, hosted can mean a managed site with CPanel installed. > you're being a snob about stuff for no other reason than to be a snob No, I avoid using or recommending technology that is insecure-by-design. That includes PHP and just about everything built on it. >I don't think anyone can take your assessments about this stuff seriously. Considering how much I make consulting about "this stuff," I have no worry about how seriously I'm taken. Sorry if I've offended a technology you like, but it's really pretty awful.

st3v3r 11y ago

Originally the 10x moniker was like that. However, like many things, it's been twisted from it's original form.