

How vanity metrics increase my productivity - plunchete
http://blog.masterbranch.com/post/22195381450/how-vanity-metrics-increase-my-productivity

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petercooper
It's definitely different strokes for different folks on this one, but as long
as the goal is noble, I think it's fine for people who get off on metrics to
use them. Not all people are motivated that way.. (luckily!)

Years ago, I had a goal of getting on the now-hidden /leaders page on HN so
worked hard at writing good comments, submitting good links, etc, every single
day and I made it. Did I add value to the site? Yes. Did the borderline-
useless ego boost keep me contributing? Sure.

I contribute a lot less now that /leaders has been hidden _and_ since getting
above top 20 is crazy hard, but HN is now so busy plenty of people are picking
up the slack, whereas early on, I have to wonder if the leaders page did help
artificially boost engagement.

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orky56
I had a similar moment yesterday. I installed Piwik, an open source web
analytics package, on my personal website yesterday and it was really
exciting. Those metrics weren't just an incremental measure of success but
rather opportunities to improve. What are the entry pages? Where is the bounce
rate the highest? What is actually capturing users' attention? It's been
exciting to view my personal site, which includes my resume and portfolio, as
a living product, even if that product is me. More often than not, creating
interesting projects and showcasing them is always a great idea.

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eclark
Along the same lines Rescue Time has been a help to me. While it's less about
direct competition I still like seeing my productivity growing.

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richardlblair
I use Rescue Time as well. I have found it incredibly insightful. As a direct
result of Rescue Time I turned e-mail notifications off, I don't log into
twitter during working hours, and I turned campfire notifications off.

My productivity has increased since using it, without a doubt.

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eturino
I agree this can be fun and encouraging... As long as it's healthy competition
between peers (or better yet, competition against oneself), and NEVER to be
used as a metric by managers for salary/bonus/firing purposes... you get my
idea. In the wrong hands vanity metrics are a really dangerous weapon. I know
a few cases.

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jcalvofer
Completely agree with the author, competition is always a great way to
motivate coders, and masterbranch definitely helps this with the easy way to
measure the coder skills.

