It's an interesting point: if some programmers are x10 productive, shouldn't there be programmer-organizations that are x10 productive?
Some possible explanations:
- an organization's productivity has many other factors that influence its productivity - optimizing part doesn't necessarily translate into the same optimization of the whole. Other factors, such as business skills (e.g. obtaining specifications, negotiating, adroitly managing scope creep, etc)
- it's easy to be x9 more productive if you are creating a "program" instead of a "systems" "product" (Brooks)
- massive productivity results from choosing what to solve, rather than how. I.e. redefining/reframing a problem instead of confronting it directly
- x10 productive programmers work on interesting problems, which are different from those that x1 programmers tackle, so it's hard to make a direct comparison. Who can you compare Jane Street with? RADgametools? If they do have a competitive set, they are probably competing against other x10 programmers - e.g. Id, Unreal, Crytek
What about the evidence that companies that are known to seek out the best programmers(Google, Microsoft, facebook) are some of the most successful? (Or at least the most visible.)
Some possible explanations:
- an organization's productivity has many other factors that influence its productivity - optimizing part doesn't necessarily translate into the same optimization of the whole. Other factors, such as business skills (e.g. obtaining specifications, negotiating, adroitly managing scope creep, etc)
- it's easy to be x9 more productive if you are creating a "program" instead of a "systems" "product" (Brooks)
- massive productivity results from choosing what to solve, rather than how. I.e. redefining/reframing a problem instead of confronting it directly
- x10 productive programmers work on interesting problems, which are different from those that x1 programmers tackle, so it's hard to make a direct comparison. Who can you compare Jane Street with? RADgametools? If they do have a competitive set, they are probably competing against other x10 programmers - e.g. Id, Unreal, Crytek
Also: http://www.johndcook.com/blog/2009/12/23/why-programmers-are...