On UrbanBaby: Nanny vs. Daycare. Discuss!
BNET Business Network:
BNET
TechRepublic
ZDNet
TalkBack 1 of 58:
Next »
You Missed the Most Important Point...
Management likes metrics because numbers on paper (or PowerPointless) makes it appear that they know what they're talking about, are meeting "goals" and showing "improvement".

Unfortunately, IT metrics don't really measure anything meaningful. Take "Lines of Code" for example. On the surface it would seem that your more productive coders would produce more code. Simple, right? Except that really bad, buggy code generally has a higher LOC count than good code, sometimes by as much as a 5 to 1 margin! I.E. Your high LOC coder is probably your worst nightmare! Furthermore, if someone has a low LOC, does it mean that they're a slacker, or a coding guru (or both)? Look at things another way: would you say that a Jackie Collins pot-boiler is 10 times better than the Iliad? It's about 10 times as long...

So far, nobody has produced an effective metric to measure the output of a 'good' coder versus a 'bad' coder. Certainly there have been many well intended efforts (anyone remember "Function Points"?), but nothing that has provided an objective, measurable means of tracking a programmer's output.

The real problem is that programming is still more art than engineering, and is really a multifaceted issue. "Good" programming involves the business issues of the client, timeliness of delivery, and number of bugs as well as technical accuracy and scalability and performance issues, among others. It's just not something that fits on your everyday yardstick.

Steve G.
Posted by: aureolin@...   Posted on: 03/10/08 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use
Reply to Story Reply to Message

Alert moderator to an offensive message

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

You Missed the Most Important Point...  aureolin@... | 03/10/08
There IS an effective metric to measure coder output  Dr_Zinj | 03/11/08
Agreed. Sort of.  aureolin@... | 03/11/08
The problem with measuring how much the cost  alaniane@... | 03/11/08
There are a couple of issues with these metrics  don3605 | 03/11/08
Steve your bad ; my media protocal BM Avatared for me never tested IE Vista  rtirman37@... | 03/12/08
Steve agree  gspr4213wi@... | 08/14/09
RE: 13 reasons IT hates metrics  sgtgary@... | 03/10/08
RE: 13 reasons IT hates metrics  rolandksmith | 03/10/08
IT's benefits are completely hidden?  mkrigsman@... ZDNet Moderator | 03/10/08
re:IT's benefits are completely hidden?  bderstine | 03/11/08
It's possible, but not probable.  alaniane@... | 03/11/08
It's pretty simple....  ThereThere | 03/11/08
RE: 13 reasons IT hates metrics  dsalmonjr | 03/11/08
forgot obvious - metrics lag IT work!  scott1329 | 03/11/08
urgent, most important, pfffft  Professor8 | 03/11/08
RE: 13 reasons IT hates metrics  geekinbach | 03/11/08
Trust  dennis.irvine@... | 03/11/08
the last couple decades  Professor8 | 03/11/08
RE: 13 reasons IT hates metrics  dennis.irvine@... | 03/11/08
# 13 is *not* just perception!  techboy_z | 03/11/08
is there a code for filling out the metrics forms?  Professor8 | 03/11/08
RE: 13 reasons IT hates metrics  FreddyF | 03/11/08
Metrics don't necessarily require consensus  polkrussel@... | 03/11/08
Metrics do not accomplish anything...  philpenn | 03/11/08
Re: Metrics don't necessarily require consensus  dkawalec | 03/11/08
Giuliani proves you get what you measure  Professor8 | 03/11/08
RE: 13 reasons IT hates metrics  dkawalec | 03/11/08
The most dangerous metric  dstreifling@... | 03/11/08
Dilbert has witnessed  Professor8 | 03/11/08
RE: 13 reasons IT hates metrics  Tom in Toronto | 03/11/08
Clear and focused  alpyne2@... | 03/11/08
The Hawthorne Effect  sboverie@... | 03/11/08
Re: The Hawthorne Effect  dkawalec | 03/11/08
Hawthorne Effect as taught in B-school  Professor8 | 03/11/08
The Black Hole of IT....Why we (non IT management) want metrics....  rhoades_ryan | 03/11/08
Now we know where the problem lies. NT  ThereThere | 03/11/08
Dear FwIT  philpenn | 03/11/08
I think your problem is probably  alaniane@... | 03/20/08
Re: Frustrated with IT  mgkdrgn | 04/01/08
Well, we in IT are frustrated too.  HypnoToad | 04/05/08
Not to nit-pick  Boatswas | 06/01/08
RE: 13 reasons IT hates metrics  Rick_R | 03/11/08
Wow interesting topic  mkrigsman@... ZDNet Moderator | 03/11/08
Yup, the lazy and incompetent hate accountability  mikifinaz1@... | 03/11/08
Precisely!  Yagotta B. Kidding | 03/11/08
They certainly do!  Master Dave | 03/11/08
RE: 13 reasons IT hates metrics  fritsau | 03/11/08
RE: 13 reasons IT hates metrics  Akumal | 03/11/08
RE: 13 reasons IT hates metrics  fuguo_wang@... | 03/11/08
Reasons 14 and 15  gazzawazza | 03/12/08
RE: 13 reasons IT hates metrics  gmccullen@... | 03/12/08
RE: 13 reasons IT hates metrics  KeithAu001 | 03/12/08
Big low bust! 11in. of trvel on that Husquarna! Are those air shock?  rtirman37@... | 03/12/08
RE: 13 reasons IT hates metrics  latex2pi@... | 03/12/08
RE: 13 reasons IT hates metrics  paulvoss@... | 03/14/08
It Called Google ......  cammobus@... | 04/01/08
More to management than metrics...  3dguru | 03/16/08

What do you think?

SponsoredWhite Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads

advertisement

SmartPlanet

Click Here