[beyang]

Sourcegraph CTO (and author of the post) here. There's no part of our product that seeks to track software productivity?

We do have a feature (https://about.sourcegraph.com/code-insights) built around code search that lets devs define their own metrics around things like progress of big migrations and anti-patterns + code smells. This tweet is a good summary of my philosophy around code-related metrics: https://twitter.com/beyang/status/1524259425451577344.

Insights from treating code as data are best discovered by the people who know the dataset through and through—i.e., developers. Another project we've released in this vein is https://codestat.dev, built on top of Comby (incidentally also on the HN front page right now), which was created by a member of our team, Rijnard, as part of his PhD thesis on automatic program transformation.

We're developers by trade and by heart, and are motivated by making tools and mental models that devs actually find useful and that boost the creative spark of coding. If there's something we can improve about our product or message to further this mission, I'd love to hear your feedback!

[_ktx2]

I think you're getting some snark because corporations are firing up a renewed interest in these kinds of metrics and as part of that they're starting with all the old ones (and motivations) that didn't work. Your messaging was fine, and your product has a clear audience (developers), this is just the fallout of industry bad behavior.

[beliu]

This is really important to call out. There have been a lot of really bad practices in the past that try to reduce "developer productivity" to something that approximates a widget factory, and the results have been awful for both developers and companies. This feeds right into the last section of the post, "If we don't talk about developer productivity, someone else will"—we need more developer voices advocating for the creative spark of building software.

[harpratap]

I feel like Developer productivity needs to taken a look at from a step below - Human productivity. Majority of Development work has revolved around plain text, but I think many (if not most) humans are visual leaners and workers. So we need more visual tools. Another one is concentration while sitting is much harder compared to walking. Charles Darwin had his Thinking Path. We should making writing and reading code more accessible in non-sitting scenarios.

[dnndev]

What is your product for me as a developer?

[beliu]

World's best code search: https://sourcegraph.com/search Analyze code as data: https://sourcegraph.com/insights Interactive docs you'll actually use: https://sourcegraph.com/notebooks Take the pain out of large-scale refactors: https://sourcegraph.com/batch-changes IDE superpowers in code reviews: https://docs.sourcegraph.com/integration/browser_extension

[dnndev]

Thanks for the links. Looks like a nice utility belt for devs who want to be productive.

Most orgs kill productivity and creativity with lack of compensation, treating them like a code farm, or mediocre peers.

Devs choose to be productive in different environments, most of the time it’s simple, step aside and let the dev do more than code. Talk to a client (yes! It’s not as crazy as it sounds). Show appreciation with bonuses not a seasonal holiday themed ham.

I think your headed in the right direction!

[beliu]

Thanks! 100% agree with the sentiment that devs should get in front of customers. The best teams I've worked on, the devs have an "end-to-end" sense of ownership, and the organization fosters this sense of responsibility and agency. And great work should absolutely be recognized. It should be a win-win-win—better software for end users, more revenue for the company, and financial + creative satisfaction for developers. We are working with all our might to push the world in that direction.