Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments
NOTE: use Perl; is on undef hiatus. You can read content, but you can't post it. More info will be forthcoming forthcomingly.

All the Perl that's Practical to Extract and Report

use Perl Log In

Log In

[ Create a new account ]

ziggy (25)

ziggy
  (email not shown publicly)
AOL IM: ziggyatpanix (Add Buddy, Send Message)

Journal of ziggy (25)

Tuesday September 02, 2003
01:36 PM

Productivity

[ #14445 ]

One of the reasons we have such long, loud, and inconclusive arguments about tools, methodologies, and the like is because we can't properly measure the effectiveness of such things. At the heart of this is the fact that we can't measure the productivity of development teams. Strictly the problem is that we can't measure their output - how much stuff gets cranked out.

-- Martin Fowler, Measuring Productivity


List all Journal entries
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

Productivity 7 Comments More | Login | Reply /

 Full
 Abbreviated
 Hidden
More | Login | Reply
Loading... please wait.
  • That's sorta true, but it's also true that we can measure such things, but the problem is that each of us use different measurements. Yes, of course BBEdit is the best text editor for programming on a Mac. But the nature of that sentence is inherently subjective. According to my measurements, which no one else shares, it is the best text editor.
    • When most people say that "X is the best Y for Z" they're usually giving an opinion not a measurement.

      Very few people, other than in jest, can assign a number of any type to these statements.

      "Well, I'll give vi a 6, emacs an 8, but vim definitely gets a 9.3"
      • Ability or willingness to assign numbers is not the only measure of "measurements." My car is bigger than my bike, but I have no idea by how much. Similarly, BBEdit is better than vi. Sure, I *could* get numerical measurements of the car and bike, but there's no need to.

        • Similarly, BBEdit is better than vi.

          Now you're overstating the case. You started out by saying that BBEdit was the best editor for you.

          That's not what Martin Fowler is talking about.

          If we really thought hard about it, there might be a reasonable way to measure the productivity of the little things we do on a daily basis -- using text editors or write small programs. That's doubtful, and it's even more doubtful that we could measure project productivity: OK, now do the exact same project with the

          • Now you're overstating the case. You started out by saying that BBEdit was the best editor for you.

            It is still what I am saying, necessarily. Since the way I measure such things must necessarily be subjective, saying it is better is necessarily saying it is better for me, unless qualified otherwise.

            Sorry, but you can't measure productivity in software. Not in any big, meaningful way.

            Of course I can, and I do it every day. But it is only big and meaningful to me.
        • You may not know by how much your car is bigger, but the point is that it's relatively easy to calculate, and get objective numbers that everyone can agree with. Without that it's not measurement, it's just comparison. Numbers are the entire point of measurement.
          • Numbers are the entire point of measurement.

            No, they aren't. It is ONE of the METHODS of measurement. There is no one point of measurement, except maybe the generic point of "comparison."

            Ever hear of a "measure of someone's worth"? We measure things like "worth" that all the time, but certainly without numbers.
Stories, comments, journals, and other submissions on use Perl; are Copyright 1998-2006, their respective owners.