The Mint

Today I went to lunch with Brian, our resident Business Analyst who serves as the link between development and operations. (A policy prevents developers from talking directly with users. Instead we play the telephone game and hope it comes out correct on the other end.) We had a nice long chat over some delicious Sonny’s BBQ. I ranted about corporate policy and complained about our development process. Little did I know that I would return from lunch to find a new policy in place. A policy that I’d feel so strongly against that it makes my other complaints seem petty.

My stomach was full and I felt renewed, having vented to Brian. I had prepared myself some afternoon coffee to help me grind out the mid-day slow down. Just as I sat and logged into my PC the software development manager came over. He was carrying a sheet of paper and ask to have a word with me. 

He handed me the sheet of paper and said that it was my score. A single number calculated using a “secret” equation that takes into account various factors such as estimation, story points and total hours. This single number is supposed to represent my performance for the previous sprint. It also contained the average score of the entire team for comparison.

I’m 26 long-since graduated from high school and college yet I had just received a report card from my boss. I was a little surprised and couldn’t formulate a response. I just sat there as he explained our new scoring system and told me my score was nearly double the team average and he wanted to let me know in person that I was doing a great job.

I was indeed glad to hear that I was doing a great job but did it really take a “secret” equation to spit out a number in order for him to see that? Doesn’t my work itself speak louder than my score? I took offense to my hard work and effort being reduced to a simple number. 

Management was effectively trying to rank the developers and in the process they were ganking morale. Programming is an art and it is not a labor that can be so accurately measured. We are not in a factory producing physical products that can be counted and examined for quality. In that environment such a system might be insulting but at least it would make sense. Software development is another thing entirely and infinitely more complex. What they are attempting makes about as much sense as an equation that calculates the beauty of a painting. It just doesn’t work like that. The only way to determine if you like a painting is to actually look.