Can't speak to what makes a 10x dev. But a 10x dev team is much easier. Where each member can carry their own weight, most of the time. -- I have been involve

Can't speak to what makes a 10x dev. But a 10x dev team is much easier. Where each member can carry their own weight, most of the time. -- I have been involved in seemingly simple projects that never seemed to end (and a lot did not or shipped with significant debt) and on other complex/novel projects (with many unknowns) which went really really smoothly and shipped on time. Successes are oft attributed to a 10x developer or a high performing individuals contributors. But, then I've seen the same 10x devs go to 0.1x and 0.1x to 10x and back. My anecdotal observations on what sets successes apart from the fails are: - A well defined problem: Well defined to the extent that this intends to solve X. It can easily solve y,z,a and b, but it will not and is out of scope/not expected to be delivered. - PMs with domain knowledge: An external aide who can step in and guide when asked, or if the visibility reduces. But understands the problem and technologies involved (task masters need not apply). No PM is often better too. Also the PM here is more like a sponsor, only steps in when asked, to recover failure. - Smaller teams: Structured like a cross-functional pod. For complex projects a senior dev, a not as senior a dev and a designer work well. A lone wolf + a designer works. A junior dev with high degree of domain expertise on the problem + a part time designer works too. No designer necessary if there isn't a front end. - Hard code reviews: Starts with a good convention that's documented, a style guide for programmers. Some languages have this baked in. This happens at the very end in the testing/cleanup phase. - Let the teams write out the task, then group these in to scopes. A PM or person with more knowledge outside the pod might be tapped in to help sub-divide scopes. - Let the team on their authority cut down on scope if it helps ship on time, with fewer unknowns, without changing what we were trying to solve. - No extensions: The project is done or its done. - Finished early? Free time to NOT write code. Usable as the team sees fit. A few other nuances, one could argue that this makes for good and consistent 1x dev. It definitely makes for a 10x team. aside: read a great book that summarized a lot of the successes as a plan they use in there team. Its an easy 60-80 minute read (I'm a slow reader). Highly recommend it if any of this resonates, high recommend if it doesn't and you want more ammo for a flame war. https://basecamp.com/shapeup https://basecamp.com/shapeup