It all comes from "if you can't measure it you can't improve it". The job of management is to improve things, and that means they need to measure it and in turn look for measures. When working on an assembly line there are lots of things to measure and improve, and improving many of those things have shown great value.
replyThey want to expand that value into engineering and so are looking for something they can measure. I haven't seen anyone answer what can be measured to make a useful improvement though. I have a good "feeling" that some people I work with are better than others, but most are not so bad that we should fire them - but I don't know how to put that into something objective.
Yes, the problem of accurately measuring software "productivity" has stymied the entire industry for decades, but people keep trying. It's conceivable that you might be able to get some sort of more-usable metric out of some systematized AI analysis of code changes, which would be pretty ironic.
replyThere’s this really awful MBA tool called a “9-box”…
replyAll evidence continues to point towards NO.
replyThey seem better at working in finance and managing money.
replyMost models of productivity look like factories with inputs, outputs, and processes. This is just not how engineering or craftsmanship happen.
It's because the purpose of engineering is to engineer a solution. Their purpose is to create profit, engineering gets in the way.
replyNo man, it's in the title, master bullshit artist
reply