10x developers (sweeping generalization here) are often not the ones that are beholden to a manager / product owner telling them what has the highest priority though. Whether that's because they won't be told what to do, are the manager themselves, or have no manager at all is not known to me.
That said, writing your own tools if applicable is useful, however I'd argue that a productive developer writes the least code and instead uses what's off the shelf. To use this article as an example, nobody should be writing their own TCP stack, there are perfectly fine existing implementations.
That said that said, writing your own stuff is probably the best way to get a deep understanding, and a deep understanding of things is a constituent part of the mythical 10x developer. I just wouldn't expect any employer to pay you for it.
A good manager recognizes that a good 10x developer needs minimal management. Not that they don't need managing, but that too much management throws a wrench in the mental gears and drags them down, burns them out, and forces them to quit. All they need is a light hand on the steering wheel to keep them pointed at the right problems.
But sibling comment is also right. The 10x developer has more "free" time outside of their Jira tickets. Some choose to focus on the next business problem, others drift and experiment.
Either way the business problem gets solved and you retain a very skilled employee. Their explorations may turn up something valuable, or just add to their own personal dragon hoard of skills, when then usually still benefits you in the end
The reason a “10x developer” can work on whatever they want is because it only takes 10% of their work hours to complete their job requirements- they are then free to experiment and play with a lot of their time.
I second this notion. In my experience, the most efficient / effective developers get to work on all sorts of interesting problems because they can finish their "regular" work so quickly.
That said, writing your own tools if applicable is useful, however I'd argue that a productive developer writes the least code and instead uses what's off the shelf. To use this article as an example, nobody should be writing their own TCP stack, there are perfectly fine existing implementations.
That said that said, writing your own stuff is probably the best way to get a deep understanding, and a deep understanding of things is a constituent part of the mythical 10x developer. I just wouldn't expect any employer to pay you for it.