Developer productivity is waste

Submitted to TEQnation 2024 on . Rejected.

Level
Intermediate
Length
Session
Track
People & Culture

Abstract, as submitted

We've become developer productivity obsessed, worse, developer productivity METRICS obsessed. How often do we deploy apps? How many story points did we complete? What's our MTTR? What's the network admins eNPS? An obsession with developer productivity is good at small doses, but it becomes a distraction when taken too far. And, besides, who is this focus on productivity really benefit? In this talk, I'll first give an overview of the latest in developer productivity metrics. Second, I'll go over some techniques to avoid descending into metrics madness. Finally, I'll go over what we should be paying more attention to instead of productivity.

This is the text that went into the CFP form, kept as submitted - not a later rewrite of it. Talks get retitled and reworked between submission and stage, so what was actually delivered may differ.

Notes to the CFP reviewers

Not part of the public abstract - this is what the program committee saw and the audience never does.

Thanks for taking the time to consider my talk! It was fun to present last year :)