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Anecdata but: In my almost ten years of software engineering engineering, I’ve never once seen an organization deploy developer productivity metrics and do anyt

Anecdata but: In my almost ten years of software engineering engineering, I’ve never once seen an organization deploy developer productivity metrics and do anything useful with them except bludgeon developers that management already don’t like with the number that came out of The Machine ©

FireBeyond 3y ago
Obligatory: "Y.T.’s mom pulls up the new memo, checks the time, and starts reading it. The estimated reading time is 15.62 minutes. Later, when Marietta does her end-of-day statistical roundup, sitting in her private office at 9:00pm, she will see the name of each employee and next to it, the amount of time spent reading this memo, and her reaction, based on the time spent, will go something like this: Less than 10 min.: Time for an employee conference and possible attitude counseling. 10-14 min.: Keep an eye on this employee; may be developing slipshod attitude. 14-15.61 min.: Employee is an efficient worker, may sometimes miss important details. Exactly 15.62 min.: Smartass. Needs attitude counseling. 15.63-16 min.: Asswipe. Not to be trusted. 16-18 min.: Employee is a methodical worker, may sometimes get hung up on minor details. More than 18 min.: Check the security videotape, see just what this employee was up to (e.g., possible unauthorized restroom break). Y.T.’s mom decides to spend between fourteen and fifteen minutes reading the memo. It’s better for younger workers to spend too long, to show that they’re careful, not cocky. It’s better for older workers to go a little fast, to show good management potential. She’s pushing forty. She scans through the memo, hitting the Page Down button at reasonably regular intervals, occasionally paging back up to pretend to reread some earlier section. The computer is going to notice all this. It approves of rereading. It’s a small thing, but over a decade or so this stuff really shows up on your work-habits summary." --Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash
- rrr_oh_man 3y ago
  Thank you for introducing me to this!
ath3nd 3y ago
In my 15 years of experience in software engineering, I've never found it either. I have, however, wasted 1000s of hours playing with poker cards and Fibonacci numbers instead of actually working. But I get paid for this, so, I guess: yay, end stage corpo capitalism!
- paulcole 3y ago
  I think this is a common misinterpretation that many people fall prey to. “It’s wasting my time so it must be bad.” Your employers aren’t optimizing for your personal productivity and happiness. They don’t mind if you waste 1000s of hours with poker cards and Fibonacci numbers if their business goals are met. This can mean making one person upset and less productive if it makes progress towards a bigger goal.
  - distortionfield 3y ago
    But it doesn’t make progress towards the bigger goal. That’s their whole point.
    - paulcole 3y ago
      All those companies failed to achieve their goals and went out of business? Just because you don’t see the progress and don’t like the process doesn’t mean progress isn’t being made.
      - boxed 3y ago
        In business it's not about achieving your goals fastest, it's about not being the slowest. Just like running from a lion. This is why these businesses survive. This is a common misunderstanding about market economies vs communism btw. In market economies there's a floor to the incompetence. In communism there is none. The ceiling isn't really different, but since there's a floor in one you will get a natural average higher in market economies. Pro-market people get this wrong all the time.
  - ath3nd 3y ago

FireBeyond 3y ago

Obligatory: "Y.T.’s mom pulls up the new memo, checks the time, and starts reading it. The estimated reading time is 15.62 minutes. Later, when Marietta does her end-of-day statistical roundup, sitting in her private office at 9:00pm, she will see the name of each employee and next to it, the amount of time spent reading this memo, and her reaction, based on the time spent, will go something like this: Less than 10 min.: Time for an employee conference and possible attitude counseling. 10-14 min.: Keep an eye on this employee; may be developing slipshod attitude. 14-15.61 min.: Employee is an efficient worker, may sometimes miss important details. Exactly 15.62 min.: Smartass. Needs attitude counseling. 15.63-16 min.: Asswipe. Not to be trusted. 16-18 min.: Employee is a methodical worker, may sometimes get hung up on minor details. More than 18 min.: Check the security videotape, see just what this employee was up to (e.g., possible unauthorized restroom break). Y.T.’s mom decides to spend between fourteen and fifteen minutes reading the memo. It’s better for younger workers to spend too long, to show that they’re careful, not cocky. It’s better for older workers to go a little fast, to show good management potential. She’s pushing forty. She scans through the memo, hitting the Page Down button at reasonably regular intervals, occasionally paging back up to pretend to reread some earlier section. The computer is going to notice all this. It approves of rereading. It’s a small thing, but over a decade or so this stuff really shows up on your work-habits summary." --Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash

rrr_oh_man 3y ago
Thank you for introducing me to this!

ath3nd 3y ago

In my 15 years of experience in software engineering, I've never found it either. I have, however, wasted 1000s of hours playing with poker cards and Fibonacci numbers instead of actually working. But I get paid for this, so, I guess: yay, end stage corpo capitalism!

paulcole 3y ago
I think this is a common misinterpretation that many people fall prey to. “It’s wasting my time so it must be bad.” Your employers aren’t optimizing for your personal productivity and happiness. They don’t mind if you waste 1000s of hours with poker cards and Fibonacci numbers if their business goals are met. This can mean making one person upset and less productive if it makes progress towards a bigger goal.
- distortionfield 3y ago
  But it doesn’t make progress towards the bigger goal. That’s their whole point.
  - paulcole 3y ago
    All those companies failed to achieve their goals and went out of business? Just because you don’t see the progress and don’t like the process doesn’t mean progress isn’t being made.
    - boxed 3y ago
      In business it's not about achieving your goals fastest, it's about not being the slowest. Just like running from a lion. This is why these businesses survive. This is a common misunderstanding about market economies vs communism btw. In market economies there's a floor to the incompetence. In communism there is none. The ceiling isn't really different, but since there's a floor in one you will get a natural average higher in market economies. Pro-market people get this wrong all the time.
- ath3nd 3y ago