[dkersten]

From what I heard the 10x meme came from a study back in the 60's where they timed something like ten programmers programming on punch cards for a couple of hours. Now, I didn't check the facts behind this myself, but if thats the case its hardly scientifically rigorous and hardly relevant at all today.

[dalke]

What you heard is incorrect. See http://forums.construx.com/blogs/stevemcc/archive/2011/01/09... for an incomplete list of some of the research which have been done, and which conclude that a 5x-25x variation exists.