alexko

The problem here is that the awesome lead will not stay long in a company where all other people are mediocre. Awesome people want to work with other awesome people. There should be a critical mass of them to keep them from leaving.

IMHO, maker/manager boundary is quickly disappearing. In the past, makers built systems from predictable but brittle parts, while managers used less predictable but more adaptable humans. Now most engineers have to deal with distributed and adaptive systems while managers have to use and understand a lot of technical systems, so both makers and managers are exposed to very similar challenges.

You are right, at least, regarding the monitor. I tried two monitors (other factors being equal), got 28, 4, 68 with Dell IPS LCD, and 31, 11, 78 with Samsung TN LCD (paired t-test p-value=0.08). It might be that amount of light or time of day is another factor introducing variance.