Jakob Nielsen’s recent essay on Variability in User Performance examines various tasks and compares the most productive users with the least productive. Of the tasks he examines, programming has the most variance in performance.
This table shows why the number one guideline for managing software development is to hire the best developers: Good developers are three times faster than slow ones and offer companies tremendous gain — even when they require higher salaries.
He also states:
The difference between the very best and very worst developers is typically about a factor twenty.
That’s a big difference!
Interestingly, the runner-up is using web sites, which means bad news for web developers. Managers can go out and pick more productive developers, but web developers can’t go out and pick more productive users. Their users may be quite skilled or only somewhat skilled, so they need to find a way to cater to both without frustrating either.
