It's interesting to ponder how a metric, through its design, is a psychological brain hack that trumps rational thought and common sense. Perhaps it's the gamif

It's interesting to ponder how a metric, through its design, is a psychological brain hack that trumps rational thought and common sense. Perhaps it's the gamification aspect that gets us? An example I think everyone can relate to is in education where grading is a rich source of perverse incentives. In developing minds, no less. Yet the metric persists. (Just to be clear, the alternative to grading is not no feedback, but personalized, situation-specific feedback. Freeing yourself from a bad metric can open doors.)