I think I agree with you - definitely about the cop-out part. It's kind of the wrong question; it's not "how do you measure productivity?" but you have some hyp

I think I agree with you - definitely about the cop-out part. It's kind of the wrong question; it's not "how do you measure productivity?" but you have some hypothesis, "what do you optimize?" If you're right, it might help you win (maybe you win or lose regardless) and you get credit. If you keep experimenting, you might get better or worse, adjust and repeat. I'm sick of these (implicitly) absolute measurement questions. I pretty much refuse to look at anything other than the delta.