Community Comment: Part 18 - Lines of code (LOC) is not a good productivity measure
- Lines of code (LOC) not good productivity measure
- Preparation rewards !> participation rewards
- Finish time matters for running race
- End product matters for software
The comments I provided in reaction to a community discussion thread.
Product Owner at Consultancy:
“A developer should be writing at least as much in code as I write as part of my documentation.”
Read this in a post by a PM. I guess he meant it as a joke (giving the benefit of doubt), but generally I’ve seen this attitude of judging a developer’s work by the lines of code they write.
“I saw you checked-in your code. This took two days?”, they ask. And then the developer explains why!
Whenever I see this happening, I get reminded of [someone's] post on ‘They don’t pay you to type’ where he argues that a developer’s worth cannot be judged by the lines of code they write.
I have personally seen problems that were solved with two lines of code, but that took several days for the developer to crack. I’ve also seen cases where an experienced developer solved a complicated problem within a few minutes, but pretended to take time, otherwise no one will see worth in their work. (This becomes further problematic in case of freelancers where they’re denied promised money because “it just took a few minutes/few lines”.)
Developers aren’t typists. They are problem-solvers.
You don’t deduct a sprinter’s salary because they finished hundred metres in few seconds. You reward them for the preparation that enabled them to do this.
Gfesser:
Thanks for weaving in a running analogy. As a lifelong runner, I rarely see this in posts. However, as a former sprinter and middle distance runner in school, I look at this a bit differently. Unfortunately, there are no rewards for race preparation. At least, I'm not a believer in participation awards. The sprinter should be rewarded for their good finish times just like a programmer should be rewarded for their good work.
Product Owner at Consultancy:
I’m not saying anyone should necessarily reward participation. I’m saying, rewards for good work are not just for the work, they are also for the preparation. Preparation is being rewarded because of the work, not just for itself.
Gfesser:
I think I hear what you're saying. In the end, though, it's results that arguably matter. Going back to the running analogy, I've come across runners who were even more naturally gifted than myself, and as such they didn't necessarily need as much preparation as me. Placing in races, however, is what mattered, not me trying harder than them. Is that fair? Yes, because finish times are objective. 🙂