Productivity

A given software problem can be solved in more than one way.

Suffice to say, Developer A might require 5 times as much effort as Developer B. To add to that statistic, the design and code from Developer A might be 5 times the LOC, and much worse quality (maybe 5 times the complexity) — basically more expensive to maintain. Might as well add one more problem: the code from Developer A exhibited brittleness when attempting to extend the functionality.

However, both A and B products provide the desired functionality.

A project team or a company likely has both A and B type developers, but rarely has the opportunity to compare parallel solutions to the same problem.

How do you go about trying to get the best solution for your money at your company?