| I think peoples concerns are quite valid, but a lot of the criticism comes from poorly designed tools. In full disclosure, I've been researching developer insights for quite a while and I will be releasing something in the near future that focuses on "developer first metrics". The goal is to showcase how code metrics can be used by developers to improve their day to day routine. And by doing so, make software metrics, less of a taboo. When I took a hiatus from my startup a year and a half ago, I learned a lot about code metrics and how it is misused and why there is such a desperation for it. There is a reason why, GitPrime was acquired for about 180 million USD. I don't think it (GitPrime) serves developers well, but it does highlight how desperately management wants to know what is going on. Since the details on "GitHub Insights" is pretty much hidden (unless you are willing to pay for it), I can't speak much for how "developer centric" it is, but if the focus for "GitHub Insights" is to appeal to developers as well, then I think it will go a long way to make software metrics a good thing for the industry as a whole. Right now I'm keeping things under wraps, but I've attached some screenshots of what kind of metrics you can surface that can help developers. Note, the screenshots are not the final product, as the product is still being heavily refined. And what makes my solution unique is, everything can be validated. That is, if you want to have a conversation around why a piece of code (or codes) had such a high churn, you can drill down to the source code level to see how the changes were derived. https://imgur.com/Oh0836a https://imgur.com/QvmhFIr https://imgur.com/5wEG6uv https://imgur.com/ltTXhkd As I mentioned early, I've been studying code metrics for a while and I strongly believe you will need developer buy in, if you want any chance of success with code metrics. So in my opinion, how positive/useful "GitHub Insights" is, will depend heavily on how developer friendly it is. |