4 ms·

The 10x label, especially as described by the tweet that started the tweetstorm is the situation which you may encounter when someone who designed the system un

by spion 7y ago

The 10x label, especially as described by the tweet that started the tweetstorm is the situation which you may encounter when someone who designed the system understands it yet its not comprehensible to anyone else, because either: * their design is poor * they didn't take the time to document it * they don't take the time to explain, mentor and in general communicate with others This is a way more common situation than the one you're describing (John Carmack)

taneq 7y ago
I haven’t been exposed to this tweetstorm but that sounds like the opposite of 10x. If no-one else has named it I’d call it the pig-in-mud engineer: They’re happy working with that codebase because they’re used to it (and it probably contains a fair bit of their excrement) even though no one else can get anything done in it.
Crinus 7y ago
> This is a way more common situation than the one you're describing (John Carmack) FWIW i remember reading that Carmack didn't really document nor explain his code and all people who bought id's engines got was a single day to ask questions about it to him and that was it. On the other hand for the vast majority of its life, id was a very small studio (IIRC the entire team who made Doom 3 was just 21 people - this includes programmers, artists, designers, etc) so chances are if someone wanted something they'd just ask him directly. I also remember a comment about programmers at id not having meetings and decisions were taken in informal discussions.
- spion 7y ago
  Yeah I've often wondered if many of the heroes we celebrate might be heroes by means of being at least a bit selfish and less of an ideal team player :) Its interesting to read that that might be the case even with J.C. An amazing engineer who is also an extremely strong team player is less likely to be that noticeable because the contrast between them and the people around them tends to disappear in those situations.

by spion 7y ago

taneq 7y ago

I haven’t been exposed to this tweetstorm but that sounds like the opposite of 10x. If no-one else has named it I’d call it the pig-in-mud engineer: They’re happy working with that codebase because they’re used to it (and it probably contains a fair bit of their excrement) even though no one else can get anything done in it.

Crinus 7y ago

> This is a way more common situation than the one you're describing (John Carmack) FWIW i remember reading that Carmack didn't really document nor explain his code and all people who bought id's engines got was a single day to ask questions about it to him and that was it. On the other hand for the vast majority of its life, id was a very small studio (IIRC the entire team who made Doom 3 was just 21 people - this includes programmers, artists, designers, etc) so chances are if someone wanted something they'd just ask him directly. I also remember a comment about programmers at id not having meetings and decisions were taken in informal discussions.

spion 7y ago
Yeah I've often wondered if many of the heroes we celebrate might be heroes by means of being at least a bit selfish and less of an ideal team player :) Its interesting to read that that might be the case even with J.C. An amazing engineer who is also an extremely strong team player is less likely to be that noticeable because the contrast between them and the people around them tends to disappear in those situations.