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0 pointsAperocky23d ago0 comments

Because code used to be correlated with progress, it became almost a measurement in lieu. But realistically, the code is meaningless if it doesn't accomplish something, and that should remain the true bar of progress.

For instance, if I churned out 20x more code, threw away 19x code with rewrites and reverts and discards and accomplished the same project to the same standard 70% faster, would I do it? Yes. The part that matter is not 20x code, it is 70% faster.

Code is both the final product, and a tool to achieve that. We used to have a much harder time to realize the "tool" part, but now we are here. This also means any measurement centered on code being the final product is going to cease being effective or realistic.

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apsurd23d ago· 1 in thread

You're right, my gripe is specifically with code slinging that hits production end users. My background is in product so to your point, it's very unnerving to see a straight line being enthusiastically optimized for developers -> customer facing product outcomes.

This is contentious because I'm not exactly advocating for arbitrary gate-keepers. The nuance is that building usable stuff is hard. And not a matter of shipping more code. I take your point to mean well it depends on what that code is doing. If 20x more code is in a meta-harness of simulation and such to arrive at the leading candidate for what hits production, well then you've got my attention there.

trefoiled22d ago

Forget about the danger of a dev to customer pipeline with no product people in between, some of us are living with the reality of product to customer pipeline with no developers in between, and that's much more disturbing. Our CEO is now the top contributor to our codebase, and he's completely non-technical.

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