The performance of doctors follows the normal distribution. I think that extrapolating to programmers is not a huge stretch. It used to be assumed that di

The performance of doctors follows the normal distribution. I think that extrapolating to programmers is not a huge stretch. It used to be assumed that differences among hospitals or doctors in a particular specialty were generally insignificant. If you plotted a graph showing the results of all the centers treating cystic fibrosis—or any other disease, for that matter—people expected that the curve would look something like a shark fin, with most places clustered around the very best outcomes. But the evidence has begun to indicate otherwise. What you tend to find is a bell curve: a handful of team with disturbingly poor outcomes for their patients, a handful with remarkably good results, and a great undistinguished middle. http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/12/06/041206fa_fact?currentPage=all http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/12/06/041206fa_fact?cu...