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Along the same lines, one of my biggest pet peeves is rewarding using Metric C, which is used not because it actually correlates with your goals, but because it
by RcouF1uZ4gsC 6y ago
Along the same lines, one of my biggest pet peeves is rewarding using Metric C, which is used not because it actually correlates with your goals, but because it is easy to measure and get a concrete number. An example would be using lines of code written per day as a measure of developer productivity.
- artsyca 6y agoNot to mention once metrics become targets, they cease being useful as metrics because they're apt to be gamed. It seems you simply can't win when you need to guard against mindlessly selfish behaviour.
- rightbyte 6y agoProtip: Instead of saying which metrics you use you could use a opaque evaluation system that seems arbitrary for the subjects.
- artsyca 6y agoSure! And have them all report each other for thought crimes and maintain secret files on everyone. Either that or let AI sort it all out.
- RichardHeart 6y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law
- bonoboTP 6y agoOr of course Measure D, which just so happens to be high for yourself and people you like (or is easy to optimize for you / them).
- 082349872349872 6y agoMy current favourite Metric C: "If you feel like showing off, average everything into everything else and call it the Gross Index of Total Enemy Morale. This won't fool anyone who knows the propaganda business, and you won't be able to do anything with or about it, but you can hang it on a month-by-month chart in the front office, where visitors can be impressed at getting in on a military secret. (Incidentally, if some smart enemy agent sees it and reports it back, enemy intelligence experts will go mad trying to figure out just how you got that figure. It's like the old joke that the average American is ten-elevenths White, 52% female, and always slightly pregnant.)"