Creating 10x Developers

Some developers always get things done faster than other team members. We call them 10x developers. A claim that one developer can do something ten times faster than others makes people outside the software world question if this is even real. But there are 10x developers spread throughout companies all around us. These developers can learn, build, and deliver quickly by combining their curiosity and creativity with the right tools. You may already have a 10x developer in your organization. But even if you do not, you do have someone ready to become a 10x developer. Identify these individuals and free them up by removing roadblocks. Your teams will benefit greatly.

These developers get things done faster again and again. "Getting things done" is an imperfect way software development leaders manage their teams. It is completing the project quickly, without bugs. It is simplifying a complex problem. It is never getting stuck. It is asking the right question before diving into a task without understanding why we should do it in the first place. It is learning a new programming language or framework and quickly writing good code. But doing your job fast and well are not things that are unique to software developers. What makes software developers unique is how technology amplifies their impact on an organization. 

These developers have an outsized impact on your company. One developer can re-architect a major improvement to a system. Another developer can redesign a user flow that thousands of users touch each day. The 10x developer phenomenon is possible because of this outsized impact. A single developer can write code that instantly improves the experience for millions of users, which is hard to experience in non-tech roles.  

Every developer has access to the same technology, but only a small subset ever reach 10x status. I have spoken with many software development leaders and asked them what gets a developer to this status. It comes down to three things: speed of learning, curiosity, and creativity. Technology changes at a rapid rate. New programming languages and frameworks are released often. The underlying hardware for services and systems is updated. User expectations evolve. A developer must always continue learning, and the best learn fast. Hand-in-hand with this is curiosity. 10x developers are naturally curious about everything related to programming. They watch YouTube videos, spend time on programming subreddits, and write code on Friday nights because what else would they do? Lastly, they are creative and figure out how to get things done. When a programmer says something cannot be done, it almost always reflects a lack of creativity. Think about your team and ask yourself which team members have these three key traits. How can you better enable them to move faster?

Now is an important time to ask this question because identifying 10x developers in your organization is becoming more critical. Thanks to Artificial Intelligence (AI), the overall productivity of every developer in the world is increasing. With AI, developers can build, move, test, debug, and ship faster. A 10x developer using AI tools is becoming a 100x developer. Amjad Masad, founder of Replit, believes we are moving to a bimodal distribution of developers. Developers will fall into one of two categories: those who quickly embrace AI to improve both quality and productivity and those who do not. If this becomes the new reality, companies must understand their development workforce and encourage people up the distribution curve. How can your company begin experimenting with AI development tools today?

Here are two ways to get started. First, encourage your developers to use ChatGPT (in private mode) as a senior architect assistant. Before a developer begins a project, they can share their high-level plan with this "architect." This back-and-forth dialogue can help them avoid technical debt or consider alternatives to an initial strategy. Second, if appropriate for your business, allow your developers to use GitHub Copilot (or another AI coding assistant). Copilot is great at quickly writing mundane code and tests. Use guidelines and principles here, and do not treat every developer or team the same. 

Do not miss out on unlocking the full potential of your development team. Identify your organization's current and potential 10x developers. To make this process seamless, get early access to DevClarity—our platform designed to give you real-time insights into your development team's strengths and weaknesses. Lastly, begin encouraging your leaders and developers to get familiar with AI. In the end, your team's productivity and quality will increase.