Re:Makers, Don't Let Yourself Be Forced into the 'Manager Sc...
by westoncb on Monday November 11, 2019 @04:59PM
(#21509336)
> Something I think ICs often overlook is a focus on leverage and scale to drive big improvements.
Mind expanding on "leverage and scale" in this context?
Re:Makers, Don't Let Yourself Be Forced into the 'Manager Sc...
by nogabebop23 on Tuesday November 12, 2019 @07:43AM
(#21513581)
I think what they mean is scale = repeatability; you can't really say "clone rockstars" but you can do something n-times with a pool of good developers, and leverage = the scaling action; ex: a senior dev could increase their output by 10% or you could introduce some knowledge sharing/mentorship/coaching program where the individual's capacity falls by 10% but they increase an entire team's production by 5%. In a small org where you probably shouldn't have dedicated dev. managers stick with the former; in growing companies the isolated rockstar is still rare and you're trying to move the needle with 50, 100, or more software devs.
If you're a manager, the math of having true rockstars on your team rarely works. They take more effort to manage yet produce fractional more output (they might be 10x better than a terrible developer but they're not multiples of solid devs). So I'm way further ahead if I can focus my efforts on improving broad-based productivity 5-10% than if I cater to my rare unicorns that are 30-50% better than my average team. Something I think ICs often overlook is a focus on leverage and scale to drive big improvements.