There's this famous law which states that "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.". The problem is not just with the measures but how they become indicators of success. This incentivizes really bad practices like rewarding lines of code written, number of tickets closed, number of commits.
Time estimation is a dark art for most people. It creates a culture of unrealistic deadlines and forces even those with better estimates to lower their own and stay competitive.
On a related note, even successful products (e.g Facebook) have measures of engagement and try to optimize features for that resulting in unintended consequences like filter bubbles, click-baity headlines and content farms.
There's this famous law which states that "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.". The problem is not just with the measures but how they become indicators of success. This incentivizes really bad practices like rewarding lines of code written, number of tickets closed, number of commits.
Time estimation is a dark art for most people. It creates a culture of unrealistic deadlines and forces even those with better estimates to lower their own and stay competitive.
On a related note, even successful products (e.g Facebook) have measures of engagement and try to optimize features for that resulting in unintended consequences like filter bubbles, click-baity headlines and content farms.
Couldn’t agree more. Great examples.