It’s the focus on the individual that gets me - good products come from teams, and it’s not uncommon, at least in my experience, for the individually amazing dev to be a drag on a team. A dev with exceptional ability also needs to be able to communicate what they’re doing to other lesser mortal. These folk do exist, but there are less of them than people that turn out unsupportable crap that’s, in isolation (ie. looks great in a “passing the desk code review test”) fantastic.
I think google did some research suggesting that the best products were built with teams with high levels of psychological safety - and that was a far greater factor than individual ability.
It’s the focus on the individual that gets me - good products come from teams, and it’s not uncommon, at least in my experience, for the individually amazing dev to be a drag on a team. A dev with exceptional ability also needs to be able to communicate what they’re doing to other lesser mortal. These folk do exist, but there are less of them than people that turn out unsupportable crap that’s, in isolation (ie. looks great in a “passing the desk code review test”) fantastic.
I think google did some research suggesting that the best products were built with teams with high levels of psychological safety - and that was a far greater factor than individual ability.