I would have to disagree on two counts. The first point is pedantic, but, in the standard normal distribution, half the curve is over ten times greater than the mean. Of course, that's cheating, since the mean is zero, but it's not impossible for the relationship between the mean programmer productivity and the standard deviation to allow for large number of programmers with 10x the mean productivity.
The catch is that any normal distribution which allows for large numbers of 10x programmers requires large numbers of programmers with negative productivity. However, I disagree that those values are meaningless. Rather, it simply indicates a programmer who makes code worse. I would readily argue that, for every 10x programmer, there's at least two who create more bugs than they solve.
The catch is that any normal distribution which allows for large numbers of 10x programmers requires large numbers of programmers with negative productivity. However, I disagree that those values are meaningless. Rather, it simply indicates a programmer who makes code worse. I would readily argue that, for every 10x programmer, there's at least two who create more bugs than they solve.