3 ms·
I think a good way to explain to non-engineers is look at writing software like writing a novel. How easy is it to measure the amount of good work produced by a
by zug_zug 4y ago
I think a good way to explain to non-engineers is look at writing software like writing a novel. How easy is it to measure the amount of good work produced by a writer? How reasonable is it to expect that any two average writers will be able to cooperate and produce a good work?
Then you can ask yourself, how would you help make an organization full of collaborative writers more productive? Would you measure their lines per day? Or would you spend your effort trying to make sure they like and understand each other?
- rkp8000 4y agoThis reminds me of the quote: "If I had more time I would have written you a shorter letter" (attributed to various people, e.g. Twain and Churchill). In my domain (developing research software for small-scale scientific projects) more lines of code rarely correlates with more functional/readable/trustworthy software. Instead I frequently find myself thinking: If I had more time I would have written less code!
- teddyh 4y agohttps://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Negative_2000_Lines_Of_Code.txt https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Negative_2000_Li...
- hnrodey 4y agoWe measure books based on number of copies sold. The more books sold roughly means you're more successful than a comparative author. If I was managing an organization full of book writers then I very well might measure number of lines per day. I've heard people discuss (on podcasts) their process to writing their book and it distills down to the commitment to write N number of lines per day until the book is complete.
- godelski 4y ago> We measure books based on number of copies sold. But is this a good metric or just Goodhart's? Let's say you're writing a technical book. How do you measure the "best" book? What is best? Number of sales just correlates and can happen just because a big school picks up a book and other schools copy. But that doesn't mean it is good. > If I was managing an organization full of book writers then I very well might measure number of lines per day. Please don't manage anyone. We don't need any more Dickens style books, and especially not code.
- wildrhythms 4y ago>We measure books based on number of copies sold. Who is 'we'? That is certainly not how I measure a book.
- feet 4y agoYou realize books also have lines of text? Why do you think # of lines = # books sold? Not # books sold = # of copies of software sold?
- cookie_monsta 4y agoI would be cautious in using this parallel. Many writers get paid per published word (but also get contracted to write x amount of words)