How to Be a 10x Engineer: Execute in an Extreme Straight-Line

I hate that word &quot;impact&quot;. As an engineer my job should be to engineer systems not to worry about how the business is running and how much profit it makes. I know this is not how most companies work but I feel it is at the core of a lot of disfunction in the practice of making software.<p>It&#x27;s like hiring a plumber and telling them &quot;your job is to create the most impact in my house&quot;... uh, no... how about you tell me what you want or what the problem is, and if you want an overhaul that can be done as well. This whole &quot;create impact&quot; and &quot;add business value&quot; is such a sneaky way to exploit people, and of course there are many people who oblige and just dedicate their entire careers to running a business instead of being engineers and implementing things properly.

The highlight for me is the distinction between being reckless and being 10x. It’s not about ignoring rules entirely; it’s about getting the right sign-offs and aligning the team, then going full throttle. Really resonates with how I like to work. There&#x27;s something about having total urgency on delivering something that makes us rethink the existing process like nothing else.

Big appetite for risk; own it, do it and ship it--these two are very hard in a large organization. Let me give you an example: one time, I had to move five solaris servers from one rack to another rack (with same IPs, etc). The app owner agreed to it as well. Powered off, then moved to another rack, powered on. Now that unsupported BEA WebLogic app server cluster didn&#x27;t come up. People were just pointing fingers at each other. No appetite for risk; owning it without solving unforeseen problems is a big NO.<p>10x Engineer is possible in a green field environment. In any other scenario, someone like Elon on the top have to own the risk. No middle manager, no senior management want to take on risks.

Musk&#x27;s takeover and move of twitter servers is absolutely not an example of &quot;10x&quot; engineering. It is sociopathic hero worship.<p>An untouchable authoritarian oligarch saying &quot;how hard can it be&quot; while taking a blowtorch to societal support structures is going to inflict death and pain on people, the neediest among us.<p>The Wolf is a much better exemplar of the patterns of a truly effective 10x engineer who makes things better for the business. Were a Wolf to behave like Musk, they would be fired.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;randsinrepose.com&#x2F;archives&#x2F;the-wolf&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;randsinrepose.com&#x2F;archives&#x2F;the-wolf&#x2F;</a>