{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "description": "The virtuous circle is the most powerful pattern in developer tooling. And it's the myth of the 10x developer that makes it hard to see.",
  "path": "/blog/virtuous-circle",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-03T10:30:00.000Z",
  "site": "at://did:plc:jbeaa5kdaladzwq3r7f5xgwe/site.standard.publication/3gtfwwbnks225",
  "tags": [
    "open source"
  ],
  "textContent": "The virtuous circle is the most powerful pattern in developer tooling. And it's the myth of the 10x developer that makes it hard to see.\n\nI've been thinking about this a lot recently, because of npmx [https://npmx.dev].\n\n\nTHE 10X DEVELOPER\n\nIn a 1968 study [https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/362851.362858], researchers found a gap between the most productive developers and the average developer. The 'best' developers were producing 10 times more output than the average.\n\nSomething about this number stuck. Many of us believe that there are 10x developers out there. We either want to be a 10x developer or we feel inadequate because we feel we aren't.\n\nOr maybe we simply enjoy imagining our heroes as 10x developers.\n\nAfter all, there are rock stars out there – both in open source and within our companies.\n\nBut I think it's unhelpful. And I think it misses the point.\n\n\nBUILDING TOGETHER\n\nThere are a couple of interesting studies out there that suggest that iteration beats one-off design [https://hci.stanford.edu/publications/2009/PrototypingEfficacy-CC09/PrototypingEfficacy-CC09.pdf] (at least, under time constraint), or that working in parallel produces better results [https://hci.stanford.edu/publications/2010/parallel-prototyping/ParallelPrototyping2010-final.pdf] than a traditional serial waterfall. And there is research to show that teams outperform individuals on complex tasks [https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2101062118].\n\nThis doesn't refute the idea that some individuals might be 10x developers. But it does suggest that looking for individuals isn't the best approach.\n\nWe would be better off finding highly motivated teams, who are able to iterate and build together.\n\n\nTHE VIRTUOUS CIRCLE\n\nI started thinking about the idea for npmx late one night (I couldn't sleep, and spotted a Slack message that nerd-sniped me). I posted on Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/danielroe.dev/post/3md3cmrg56k2r] to ask for people's wishlist for https://npmjs.com – and started building npmx almost immediately. By the next day, I had an MVP.\n\nBut the real key was the response on Bluesky. Everyone wanted something. Everyone wanted to make https://npmjs.com better.\n\nAnd, seeing that response, I messaged a friend.\n\nA screenshot of me asking: want to collab with npmx.dev? I think it could be v big (because so many of us feel the pain) [https://roe.dev/img/virtuous-circle/discord.png]\n\nAnd as we started reaching out to friends – and then to people we respected on Bluesky and elsewhere – it became clear.\n\nThis was a project where the virtuous circle would work.\n\nWhat's a virtuous circle? Well, it's the positive form of a vicious circle.\n\nIn our case, the audience for https://npmx.dev are the same people who can contribute and build it. That means, if we want to improve our experience using the npm registry, we hold all the tools to make it better. The better it gets, the more we use it – and the more people who might contribute and make it better.\n\nThe great thing about this is that we aren't being driven by a corporate agenda. We're not being limited by lack of funding. npmx will continue to grow to make our lives as developers better, incrementally, in parallel – and as a team.\n\n\nWHERE WE'RE GOING\n\nI don't think we need 10x developers to build great things. I think we need 10x teams – groups of people who care about the same problem, who iterate together, and who make each other better.\n\nnpmx is community-driven and open source, and we have open doors for anyone to contribute. If you've ever felt the pain of navigating the npm registry, you already have something to offer.\n\nCome and build with us.",
  "title": "The virtuous circle",
  "updatedAt": "2026-05-18T10:17:50.927Z"
}