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I think we're conflating skill with performance. The hiring system should be assumed to filter for a baseline skill, when I say performance I really mean output

I think we're conflating skill with performance. The hiring system should be assumed to filter for a baseline skill, when I say performance I really mean output. A high output team player is gold and we want as many as possible. A high output singleton will likely have sacrificed some element of quality or maintainability or thoroughness or likely even their own personal lives to reach that output, for the projects they enjoy doing. That output is unlikely to translate into a new, less interesting project and if the work or system is now structured to require that level of output then few would want to take up the position. The over used canoe metaphor is useful, you want people to pull at the same speed. I also enjoy the 'always be leaving your job' approach that guides people away from building themselves into the system.

worstspotgain 2y ago
Let me rephrase. Let's say you're writing textbooks instead of code. You need Ivy League PhD's to write grad school textbooks, but not grammar school ones. Here are two crappy scenarios I was thinking about: - You choose to write grammar school textbooks just so you can hire cheaper writers. - Or worse, you're required to write grad school textbooks but you still hire cheaper replaceable writers. We are conflating skill with performance, but the 10x theory (IIRC) is that they are correlated, or at least can be given the proper motivation. Team players are always better than singletons, so let's assume there's no correlation there (which may be a stretch, sure.)