Managers only worry about measuring programmer productivity because programmers are often the bottleneck on what the organization can achieve. If programmers were no longer the bottleneck, the focus on measuring productivity would shift elsewhere.
In _Extreme Programming Explained_, Kent Beck related the story of an XP team that was extremely productive, hit all their targets... and was then disbanded by management. The team had been so productive that the bottleneck shifted to other departments in the organization, and those departments didn't like being in the spotlight. Maybe they had gotten used to the idea that *their* productivity couldn't be measured... and now someone was trying to measure it.
Until we realize that we are all in the same boat, and will go fastest if we all row at the same speed, distrust and the "measure or be measured" attitude that comes with it will prevail. When we all work together, there's no need to measure productivity, because the whole organization is by definition working on its highest priorities as quickly as it can.
Managers only worry about measuring programmer productivity because programmers are often the bottleneck on what the organization can achieve. If programmers were no longer the bottleneck, the focus on measuring productivity would shift elsewhere.
In _Extreme Programming Explained_, Kent Beck related the story of an XP team that was extremely productive, hit all their targets... and was then disbanded by management. The team had been so productive that the bottleneck shifted to other departments in the organization, and those departments didn't like being in the spotlight. Maybe they had gotten used to the idea that *their* productivity couldn't be measured... and now someone was trying to measure it.
Until we realize that we are all in the same boat, and will go fastest if we all row at the same speed, distrust and the "measure or be measured" attitude that comes with it will prevail. When we all work together, there's no need to measure productivity, because the whole organization is by definition working on its highest priorities as quickly as it can.
https://open.substack.com/pub/softwarecrafter/p/the-busy-trap-how-to-distinguish?r=1ksqke&utm_medium=ios
My next installment in this series of articles categorically explains where the productivity sinkholes are…
Actually this comment starts with a wrong assumption on where the bottlenecks are.
Fortunately, we are in luck, my next article is a series of case studies in which I bust some of these myths.
You actually gave me one myth which I can bust as well!!