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The Effective Tech Lead Is a 100x Engineer

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Re: The Effective Tech Lead Is a 100x Engineer

#3

Post by lawlessone »

mykull wrote: post #2

I really don't think coining the term 10x did anything to help developers or the state of development, and likewise here.

Companies will probably start assigning us all badges soon like in game achievements/levels.

100x 200x gives me an idea for terrible clicker game.

Re: The Effective Tech Lead Is a 100x Engineer

#6

Post by dlevine »

mykull wrote: post #2

I really don't think coining the term 10x did anything to help developers or the state of development, and likewise here.

Agreed. I think that the advantage of a good tech lead is that they:

1) Make sure that the people working for them are happy and challenged

and

2) Remove any roadblocks required for developers to solve the problems that they are working on (I would say "write code", but I don't think that the ultimate measure of developer productivity is how much code they write).

I think that good tech leads should help to keep productivity growing mostly (almost?) linearly as the engineering team grows.

Re: The Effective Tech Lead Is a 100x Engineer

#8

Post by bargl »

yc-kraln wrote: post #4

You know what happens at 100x? You burn out 100x faster. But you aren't paid 100x more.

From the article.

> How can I avoid burning my team out?

If a team can't meet a deadline, it's a management problem, and not the team's problem. This means that, somewhere along the way, the project didn't go as planned and a course wasn't corrected. So, Rule Number 1 to avoid burnout is "Manage the project and expectations well" (See: Help! We are behind schedule!).

Rule number 2: Never ask more of your team than you would ask of yourself (and you mustn't ask yourself to work nights and weekends). Other organizations might ask their teams to pull longer hours when the going gets rough. This is a laser-focused bullet train to attrition and long-term inefficiencies. Webflow cares deeply about its team, not only professionally, but personally, so we must do our best to manage our time well.

Re: The Effective Tech Lead Is a 100x Engineer

#9

Post by mattlondon »

badloginagain wrote: post #7

Only comments here discussing the shittiness of '100x' engineer, despite the first paragraph of the article specifically stating that a good Lead is a force multiplier of a team. Read the article.

I think people are upset with the NNNx stuff people use. My instant reaction to seeing this headline was one of mild disgust - I cant bring myself to read the article.

I dont have data, but I think the whole 10x circle-jerk is harmful to our profession - non-technical people (e.g. managers, HR etc) think it is "a thing", which means we end up working with "10x" jerks and/or are getting pressured into working overtime/weekends etc so that we can live up to this unrealistic "10x" benchmark/expectations.

Re: The Effective Tech Lead Is a 100x Engineer

#10

Post by bargl »

This was a fantastic read that isn't done any service by the CRAPPY title of the article. I can say that they aren't trying to get 10x the work on 1x the budget, but how to effectively manage a team so that your employees feel motivated to work hard for you when they are at work, but aren't stressed by external factors.

The basic premise is how do you as a manager give your team 10x time to actually work, focus on work, and enjoy life.

Please don't be deterred by the terrible title. Or even not so fantastic intro.

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