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by ceejayoz 2534 days ago
Is Michael Phelps ten times faster than your average competitive swimmer, though?
3 comments

No but he wins 10 times more often.
A software development team probably shouldn't be a "one person wins, everyone else loses" scenario, though.
The ideal "10x engineer" in my mind is one that helps their team win significantly more often. Competitive swimming is maybe not the best analogy (although I have worked with engineers like that before too). If you want sports, maybe basketball. You've got a good team, but you've got a stellar player that makes them all better.
well to simplify it: if 2 competing companies with 1 programmer each were trying to create $popular_app_or_website then the company with the more productive developer would "win" more often
no, businesses win or lose based on sales & marketing, not how productive their engineers are.
Does Michael Phelps deliver 10x more value than the slowest guy on the US team? The multiplier is for value to the organization.
Switch Michael Phelps with Tom Brady.