[azemetre]

I feel like diet as an analogy doesn't work. We know that the only way to lose weight is with a caloric deficit. If you can't do this, it doesn't matter what you eat you won't lose weight. If you're failing to lose weight because of a diet you are eating too much, full stop.

Whereas measuring productivity and usefulness is way more opaque.

Many simple software systems are highly productive for their companies.