Software Design X-Rays

Adaptive Behavior and the Destruction of a Data Source

Over the past years I’ve been asked if the social analyses presented in this book could be used to evaluate the performance of individual programmers. My short answer is no, and—when I get the chance to elaborate—my longer answer is “No, because it will hurt more than it will help.”

The reason I advise against this is part ethical, part juridical, and to a large degree practical. Some of the statistics you’re able to collect with the techniques in this book may be considered sensitive from a legal perspective, a topic that varies among different jurisdictions and company policies.

From a practical point of view, once someone starts to evaluate contributors, people adapt by optimizing ...