I'd say that there are two kinds of 10x devs, as per who is doing the determination of '10x':
1. From the perspective of the money folks (managers & up): they get their jobs done very quickly, thus spending minimal time, meaning minimal money.
2. From the perspective of excellent systems design folks: they design an excellent system that addresses subtle problems and foresees and addresses system problems that will occur down the road.
Type #2 folks tend to not add to the org's technical debt; Type #1 folks don't GAF about such considerations -- they meet their quotas, get their perf reviews, and are on their way to their next promotion/position/project.
I'd say there is excellence for excellence's sake, and then there's money-making excellence. Sure, orgs need to make money (or at least break even) to survive, but there's a lot of overlap where being too much one way or the other will be an impediment to long-term viability.
1. From the perspective of the money folks (managers & up): they get their jobs done very quickly, thus spending minimal time, meaning minimal money.
2. From the perspective of excellent systems design folks: they design an excellent system that addresses subtle problems and foresees and addresses system problems that will occur down the road.
Type #2 folks tend to not add to the org's technical debt; Type #1 folks don't GAF about such considerations -- they meet their quotas, get their perf reviews, and are on their way to their next promotion/position/project.
I'd say there is excellence for excellence's sake, and then there's money-making excellence. Sure, orgs need to make money (or at least break even) to survive, but there's a lot of overlap where being too much one way or the other will be an impediment to long-term viability.