Measuring developer productivity with the DX Core 4

https://getdx.com/research/measuring-developer-productivity-with-the-dx-core-4/

Comments

stirayJul 27, 2026, 10:14 AM
I would like to present DX team another metric.

It is called "not wanting to work in a company that is insulting me with measures like metrics, spying on screens, squeezing every drop of sweat and exploiting its workers for already huge profit.

My last job change was exactly due to company acquisition by USA company that started to exploit everything work related, removing wfh, ruining life-job ballance,... And who leaves first? Those who can.

So you are not really measuring developer productivity but helping company get rid of most productive people, while all others stay.

Cthulhu_Jul 27, 2026, 11:30 AM
My only experience with GetDX has been filling in a questionaire once a quarter that asked stuff like "how often do you go to production"; I don't know if you work in a more hostile environment, but in my case it was always used to identify points to improve, not necessarily targets.
brabelJul 27, 2026, 10:51 AM
I think metrics can be used for good. For example we are constantly try to improve our dev experience, but how do you know if you are improving anything? Developers are notably inaccurate in reporting efficiency. Unfortunately flying blind is not really an option when you need to justify paying for tools that claim to improve productivity.
BoxOfRainJul 27, 2026, 11:29 AM
Surely no data is better than bad data? What's the point of a metric that doesn't measure anything tied to the objective reality of what it is that you're measuring?

All I see tools like this doing is getting people to manipulate the metrics, while at the same time producing enormous amounts of worker alienation. I'd even speculate the demoralising effects of workplace surveillance schemes undermine the alleged productivity benefits.

tripledryJul 27, 2026, 11:34 AM
I see more of people using data and bad metrics to justify whatever they want to push rather than genuinely trying to improve conditions.

I don't have any data to prove this :)

nh23423fefeJul 27, 2026, 11:18 AM
This response is low on originality metric.
igleriaJul 27, 2026, 8:28 AM
> Whether you’re a C-level leader or a frontline manager, there is no denying that measuring developer productivity—whether to understand performance or guide improvement—is a daunting challenge.

good

Focus on the stuff that matters, not on tormenting the people that make you money.

wokwokwokJul 27, 2026, 8:04 AM
It’s remarkable (but not reassuring) how carefully they avoid saying “part of the Atlassian family” in any promotional material for some reason.
zeroc8Jul 27, 2026, 10:50 AM
The problem is that there are so many people involved in software development who have never developed anything but still somehow are in the position to manage others who do.

That's why there are so many stupid ideas floating around.

lbrinerJul 27, 2026, 10:17 AM
Developers don't like being measured for good and bad reasons. The good reason is that there is lots of effort that we expend that isn't always captured in metrics like long pieces of design or training others etc. The bad is that we don't being told that we aren't as productive as other people even if we are!

My experience is that these are only useful over a long enough period and across enough people that we can spot genuine outliers. For example, your average across the last 6 months is "15" and the average of everyone else is "25", can you help me see whether you are being given too much off-target work or are there any other issues that are blocking you getting stuff done?

pipesJul 27, 2026, 10:51 AM
Also trying to reduce productivity to some thing as silly as pull requests per hour etc ignores valuable contributions else where. Design, push back, quality, mentoring, leadership. I thought that is why meta had the "coding machine archetype" and other archetypes, recognising that just PRs aren't the only measurements.
Cthulhu_Jul 27, 2026, 11:31 AM
From my limited experience with this tool / DORA metrics, it's not so much about performance (PRs per hour) but more about whether you can act fast if you need to. But I'm not sure what the other metrics are about.
jcarranoJul 27, 2026, 8:32 AM
Did anyone here ever worked under these sorts of "metrics"? I can't even imagine what a torture it would be.
majorbuggerJul 27, 2026, 9:12 AM
Could be worse like crossover
cultofmetatronJul 27, 2026, 7:56 AM
the whippings will continue until Dx core 4 metrics improve
duzer65657Jul 27, 2026, 9:17 AM
you forgot the (tm) on the metrics system. That's a huge smell.
unglaublichJul 27, 2026, 10:56 AM
Lol, number of diffs and prs? Number of prs that focus on new features?

Those are horrible incentives.

ghthorJul 27, 2026, 11:29 AM
I don’t think the product is all bad; my co is using it and I feel like it is giving us some useful signals about our internal dev UX that my team can action on; we own the base level dev tooling.
cynicalsecurityJul 27, 2026, 10:38 AM
How to ruin your company in 3 simple steps. Step 1: DX Core 4.
imeronJul 27, 2026, 8:34 AM
Developers will optimize for what is measured.
kamil55555Jul 27, 2026, 7:46 AM
>key metric >diffs per engineer