Recovering 10x Developer¶

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Introduction¶

It all started over 20 years ago, writing code to win friends and influence people. It's fun to materialize apps out of thin air. Need a game? Need a report? Need a search engine? Need a cloud? Need AI? Yep, I've got it covered. All these things seem great on the surface. I've made a decent living building stuff, slowly at first, then eventually to the magical 10x threshold. But then it came crashing down. 10x wasn't good enough. If 10x isn't good enough, 20x won't be, 30x won't be. I've been looking at the wrong problem. I've had a magic wand and used it to conjure ponies and rainbows, but no one wants those. People want value.

What was your initial motivation for becoming a developer?¶

I'm an artist at heart. I've always been creative. Shapes and spaces have always made sense to me. I can recall fixing stuff around the house with my Dad and creating paper craft transformers when I was in elementary school. In High School, I was taking all the drafting electives and was planning on going down the mechanical engineer path. Then I discovered my friend's computer which had programming languages and realized I could take creation to another level since I didn't need to worry about running out of materials and could undo/redo to my heart's content until the vision was complete.

I was at a startup which attempted to compete with Amazon Kindle. I created a white-labeled multi-language, multi-currency, digital reading platform that could be skinned to any publisher, author, or brand to deliver their catalog instead of Kindle. The vision was to return the customer to the source and away from Amazon. I created an iOS Reader, Android Reader, Web Reader, Catalog Browser, and had proprietary DRM for Web Reader. It was a beautiful platform, but we couldn't convince publishers to sign up.

The Realization¶

When did you first start feeling that 10x wasn't enough?¶

At the last company, I realized it didn't matter how fast I could produce something if it wasn't the right thing. I often debated with product owners and executives on what we should be working on, but more often than not, I conceded my points because I was getting paid for execution, not strategy. Eventually, I discovered we could change strategies midway by creating prototypes that would prove or disprove a point to fail fast. This ultimately led me down the path of prototyping everything and getting my final speed increase simply by reducing the requirements to the essentials.

What specific event or project made you realize the importance of value?¶

With the heat-up of AI in 2023 due to OpenAI's ChatGPT, everyone wanted a chat interface in their product line, but the value proposition never lined up for me. A company could shift their resources to chase after the wind or get down to basics and realize there are thousands of successful companies that figured out how to do things without a chatbot. No need to reinvent the wheel. Simply use the wheel that's already in front of us.

The Shift in Mindset¶

How did you start identifying the real needs of your clients?¶

At one of my past employers, I recall someone bringing up the XY Problem where someone is struggling with solution X, but it won't solve problem Y. For instance, someone goes to the doctor asking for pain killers because their foot hurts, but what they really need is to take the thorn out of it. This issue is rampant in corporate settings because people don't often have safe spaces to question the tasks. They worry about their jobs and closing tickets.

Can you provide an example where you successfully identified and delivered true value?¶

In the chatbot era, I agreed to implement a chatbot solution for a client. However, during the discovery phase, we realized they weren't asking for a chatbot at all. They needed a way to flag key indicators among 100,000 historical contracts. They required a quick method to review these contracts and assign attributes to them. Essentially, they needed a pipeline, not a chatbot. The solution and the ultimate value of automation vastly outweighed the value of chatting about a contract. No one wanted to type the same things to the chatbot 100,000 times. The automation saves them millions of dollars annually in litigation and insurance claims.

Lessons Learned¶

What were the biggest challenges in shifting your mindset?¶

The hardest part of the shift is overcoming the urge to write my own code and implementation. I need to trust that there are others who can do it just as well, if not better. It's simply a matter of finding them and building up the team.

How has this new approach benefited your clients and your career?¶

It's interesting; I've been discussing the value of projects at the onset for a long time, but I never had the right words or framework to drive the point home. My job as an execution expert was to make things happen, not to question why. If the client wanted a time machine, I'd get the first version out faster than anyone else. But now, I know better. The time machine, as cool as it is to make, doesn't solve the real pain of messy data or whatever solved problem it ends up being. Just like the chatbot case above, discovering the real problem created the real value. A time machine creates coolness and distracts from getting to the real value.

Conclusion¶

How has this journey changed you personally and professionally?¶

It's scary for sure. Imposter syndrome sets in quickly but wears away with each success. I feel more brave with each client call. I feel less anxiety away from the keyboard. I feel like this is the way entrepreneurship is supposed to be: discover a problem no one is willing or able to solve, and solve it.

What are the next steps in your journey, and how can your readers join you?¶

If you or someone you know is struggling with projects and needs a value-driven approach, reach out for a free initial consultation. Let's get to the root and solve real problems together and find real value. I'm excited to connect with people who are ready to focus on what truly matters and make impactful changes. Join me on this journey, and let's create something meaningful together.

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