On some weeks, I am 10x.. no, scratch that, 50x more productive than myself on the others. And I've seen some people who are capable to sustain that indefinitely.
I think the big productivity improvements are those that in retrospect just seem like: "Yeah, that was the right way to do things."
Example: I had some large csv files to import into a rails app. Instead of writing my own importer and running it with script/runner, I scripted a quick importer ontop of mysqlimport. Mysqlimport ran about 1000x faster than a custom solution.
Well when it concerns yourself it's a bit easier to gauge performance. I'm an embedded systems developer, sometimes able to write 5 device drivers in 5 days, but on others barely able to begin, let alone complete, even the most trivial tasks.
I guess this averages out. Just that some people seem to have incredible mental stamina.
