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0 pointsvorpalhex3y ago0 comments

How do you actually measure 2x or 10x workload while keeping quality the same?

It's _very_ easy to measure how fast it takes a ticket to go from "in progress" to "done" but measuring whether code has bugs, or leads to downtime or is just impossible to parse is a different problem.

If you never need code to be readable or documented I can write it quite quickly. If you want something other humans can have a hope of maintaining, that might take a bit.

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sokoloff3y ago

I think everyone who has been in tech for 7 years has a short list of people they’d want on their 4-person tech team and a longer list of people they wouldn’t.

That I can’t tell you to two decimal places exactly how much better the first list is than the second doesn’t mean I can’t tell who’s on which list with high fidelity/repeatability.

lordnacho3y ago

But those are people you've actually worked with day to day, right? They've had the long form of the interview with you and passed.

I know a bunch of people like that, but I've only worked with so many people. A startup would exhaust their friends pretty fast and be back to interviewing strangers.

cyberlurker3y ago

I love creating these lists in my head. Sometimes when I do a good job, I imagine myself on someone else's good list. Often when I am struggling with something I worry someone is visualizing me on their bad list.

Over time it has made me question if my short list is as good as I think it is. Maybe I am biased and only observed good/bad work for people on either list. Also people change over time and take on new responsibilities that change their work.

sokoloff3y ago

I am 100% certain that I am a member of the “naughty” list for some ex-colleagues and the “nice” list for other ex-colleagues. ;)

adam_arthur3y ago

It's pretty easy to tell when you're managing a team and familiar with the code. You can't quantify it explicitly, but it can be quite clear.

In my experience the top 20% of employees do 80% of the work

Jensson3y ago

> In my experience the top 20% of employees do 80% of the work

That would make them 16x as productive compared to the bottom 80% who does 20% of the work. So 10x seems to be roughly the same thing as the 80/20 rule.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

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sokoloff3y ago

I think everyone who has been in tech for 7 years has a short list of people they’d want on their 4-person tech team and a longer list of people they wouldn’t.

That I can’t tell you to two decimal places exactly how much better the first list is than the second doesn’t mean I can’t tell who’s on which list with high fidelity/repeatability.

lordnacho3y ago

But those are people you've actually worked with day to day, right? They've had the long form of the interview with you and passed.

I know a bunch of people like that, but I've only worked with so many people. A startup would exhaust their friends pretty fast and be back to interviewing strangers.

cyberlurker3y ago

sokoloff3y ago

I am 100% certain that I am a member of the “naughty” list for some ex-colleagues and the “nice” list for other ex-colleagues. ;)

adam_arthur3y ago

It's pretty easy to tell when you're managing a team and familiar with the code. You can't quantify it explicitly, but it can be quite clear.

In my experience the top 20% of employees do 80% of the work

Jensson3y ago

> In my experience the top 20% of employees do 80% of the work

That would make them 16x as productive compared to the bottom 80% who does 20% of the work. So 10x seems to be roughly the same thing as the 80/20 rule.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse