Most of the variance in developer output, even with AI augmentation, is not about the developer, it’s about friction. It’s about how many times a day someone gets interrupted, how long the builds or tests take, how quickly a review is turned around, how confident they feel deploying on a Friday afternoon, whether the test suite is trustworthy, and whether they spend their week on work they consider meaningful.

100% this! If you want to improve developer output, then protect them from unnecessary meetings and distractions.