A 10x engineer isn't what you think

If 10x engineers exist, they don't work 10x faster or create 10x the output. Speed and output without quality are waste.

A 10x engineer creates 10x the value with the same resources. They question requirements, cut scope and hone in on what's essential, continuously improve the process, and iterate on their work.

The essential 10%

Lean manufacturing shows that 90% of any process is waste. By identifying the waste and eliminating it, we are left with the 10% of value-adding activities.

Now, this doesn't mean we fill 100% of our capacity with the 10% of value-adding activities at 10x the scale. That likely is impossible and unsustainable.

Instead, we can work more calmly (increased sustainability), with stricter criteria for what we take on (better framing), and enjoy more slack in the system (increased resilience) while using fewer resources (increased efficiency).

How to enable 10x engineers

If we understand that the goal is to increase quality and value creation, not just pace or volume, we prioritize creating space instead of simply moving faster or shipping more features.

We should reserve capacity for people to reflect on their work and form novel ideas. They should have time to identify and eliminate waste, which improves quality, increases efficiency, and allows us to focus on more valuable work. This will also naturally lead to an increase in pace and volume while preserving quality and value creation.

We should encourage people to question requirements, including whether a potential project is even worth doing if it's not sufficiently timely and impactful. One of the best outcomes of potential projects is determining that we shouldn't do them at all, as we save 100% of the resources we would have invested, and avoid the risks of diluting our focus and maintenance overhead. We should celebrate and encourage these decisions instead of only incentivizing doing more, new things.

Lastly, when making hiring, resourcing, or process decisions, defer to those doing the work to understand what they need. Often, teams try to hire their way out of bottlenecks, thinking that more people will increase pace and output. In reality, this has diminishing or even negative returns, as it simply scales or exacerbates existing waste and bottlenecks. Instead, by focusing our resources and efforts on the 10% of work that is valuable, we can have much larger impact with the same or even fewer resources, while being happier and more fulfilled along the way.