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Software Engineers sometimes act as if administration and coordination of effort are unwelcome distractions to productivity, but those are necessary components

Software Engineers sometimes act as if administration and coordination of effort are unwelcome distractions to productivity, but those are necessary components to any viable commercial effort. The super-productive, "$3M/year engineer" who goes and starts a successful new startup always metamorphosizes into the pointy-haired boss. Why is that? Because that is the steady state of companies, anything else is transient. However, VC's make money from a steady stream of disaffected engineers who are convinced that there is a better way - for a while, there is, until the same VCs ask the founders to step-up their administration-game, or they have to raise capital, or manage paperwork.

d110af5ccf 6y ago
I mostly agree, but I think it's important to note that the necessity of administrative overhead (and associated friction) scales with team size and project scope. I expect a lone developer to be the most productive by far in the narrow sense of producing working code. However, at some point a single person just can't do everything that needs doing themselves. So I'll agree that as things grow administrative overhead will necessarily creep in. But I expect that if you can find a way to turn a profit, a smaller team will probably involve significantly less overhead. So if (as in PG's hypothetical) the developer is worth $80k at a big company, how much would you estimate them to be worth at a company of only 4 people that has a good idea and funding?
- sangnoir 6y ago
  > So if (as in PG's hypothetical) the developer is worth $80k at a big company, how much would you estimate them to be worth at a company of only 4 people that has a good idea and funding? My point is that a 4-person company with a good idea and funding doesn't usually remain a 4-person company. Sure, they could be churning out good code at an amazing rate, but is transient state - in order to make money at the levels that the VC-class demands, pointy-haired bosses will be required, and they come with structure, meetings, emails, templates, and other administrata rituals. edit: I think this is proof enough that VCs don't optimize for individual productivity - nobody who likes having more money does.

d110af5ccf 6y ago

I mostly agree, but I think it's important to note that the necessity of administrative overhead (and associated friction) scales with team size and project scope. I expect a lone developer to be the most productive by far in the narrow sense of producing working code. However, at some point a single person just can't do everything that needs doing themselves. So I'll agree that as things grow administrative overhead will necessarily creep in. But I expect that if you can find a way to turn a profit, a smaller team will probably involve significantly less overhead. So if (as in PG's hypothetical) the developer is worth $80k at a big company, how much would you estimate them to be worth at a company of only 4 people that has a good idea and funding?

sangnoir 6y ago
> So if (as in PG's hypothetical) the developer is worth $80k at a big company, how much would you estimate them to be worth at a company of only 4 people that has a good idea and funding? My point is that a 4-person company with a good idea and funding doesn't usually remain a 4-person company. Sure, they could be churning out good code at an amazing rate, but is transient state - in order to make money at the levels that the VC-class demands, pointy-haired bosses will be required, and they come with structure, meetings, emails, templates, and other administrata rituals. edit: I think this is proof enough that VCs don't optimize for individual productivity - nobody who likes having more money does.