In this web content, the author discusses the topic of measuring developer productivity and shares a personal experience about the worst programmer they know, Tim Mackinnon. The author explains that they fought to keep Tim on their team despite his consistently zero productivity score because Tim’s value was not in delivering individual stories but in creating a high-performing team. They argue against measuring the individual contributions of developers in a complex adaptive system and instead advocate for measuring tangible business impact or using proxy business metrics. The author also praises Tim’s skills as a programmer and encourages others to work with him. Overall, the content highlights the importance of team accountability and the flaws in measuring individual productivity.
https://dannorth.net/2023/09/02/the-worst-programmer/