[Sigia-l] Dedicated to those...

[prady]

On 11/17/06, CD Evans <cd at infostyling.com> wrote:
> Ziya, you old dog, you're still good news! After all these years, you never
> manage to disappoint. And, Bravo Joel! Wonderful article!!!
>
> For everyone who hasn't read the amazingly honest article about the self
> imposed MBA Legislative Authority in the IT industry, I highly recommend it!
>
>
> <http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/11/10b.html>

I read it. And read it again after CD's graceful endorsements :-)

I agree with the sentiments -- management is stupid, outside
consultants are stupid too, when it come to metrics or benchmarks for
software productivity. In fact this can be applied to any performance
measure which is not "shop floor" or "assembly line". And the reason
is -- "trivial to game" as Joel puts in here:

"The whole fraud is only possible because performance metrics in
knowledge organizations are completely trivial to game..."

I agree completely with the sentiments. I am also sure that Joel is
not suggesting that "measuring performance" or defining "success" is
evil thought. He is pointing, through an instance (about oil
companies) how stupid it can get.

That said, story sounds unrealistically comic for the very reasons
that it seems so stupid. It is well presented though – kind of how
Gaul were depicted against Ceaser  in Astrix/Oblix series.

Thanks,
Prady