线性指标总是滞后指标。

线性指标总是滞后指标。
Linear is always a lagging indicator

原始链接: https://remark.ing/rob/rob.mw/-/Linear-is-always-a

Rob Koch 认为，像 Linear 这样的工单追踪工具已沦为“滞后指标”，因为它们被当作管理层的可视化看板，而非工程师的战术工具。当追踪过程成为绩效指标时，工程师的工作重心便从解决工程问题转向了管理工单。 Koch 指出，最关键的工程工作——如设计评审、架构讨论和“提示（prompting）”（定义具体实现方式）——往往在工单创建前就已完成。由于这些复杂且协作性的阶段未被记录，工单仅能反映工作的最终机械执行过程。他估计，目前近 50% 的组织精力被浪费在内部状态汇报上，而非实际的产品开发。Koch 建议，应利用大语言模型（LLM）从 Slack 对话、文档和代码审查（PR）等现有沟通渠道中综合提取项目状态。通过实现进度汇报自动化，组织可以将工程师从维护行政追踪的负担中解放出来，让 Linear 等工具回归其本源用途：追踪技术任务，而非管理生产力。

这次讨论的焦点在于使用 Linear 等细粒度工作追踪工具可能带来的负面影响。批评者认为，当管理层对开发过程中的微观环节（如规划、内部沟通或测试）拥有过度透明的可见性时，往往会陷入“过度优化”指标的陷阱。这种压力可能导致表面化的任务、随意的截止日期，以及对非编码活动所需时间的误解。多位评论者指出，当管理层将这些平台视为监控工具而非工作流辅助手段时，会损害开发人员的生产力和士气。相反，一些人认为该工具的效用取决于具体的实施方式。如果使用得当，它可以在开发开始前为讨论提供有价值的背景信息。然而，与会者的共识是，这些追踪工具本质上属于滞后指标；它们是对已完成工作的记录，不应被用于主导创造性开发的节奏。

Documentation rob

·2d Linear is always a lagging indicator

Not to pick on linear -- any issue tracking tool that is used instead as a visibility tool by higher-ups to get a view into what their organization is doing is also lagging. If engineers used it by themselves for themselves then of course it's useful. We don't want to work on things that are already being worked on or already done.

But something something when a measure becomes a target it ceases to be a good measure. Now engineers are thinking about tickets instead of engineering.

A fleshed-out linear/jira ticket is essentially done aside from the code writing, review, and deployment. Why? Because these final steps are nearly automated for us these days. But where do you track the work that goes into writing a good ticket (aka prompt)? Is the answer ticket-writing tickets? We have offhand conversations and design reviews and 1:1s and only then, once we have some semblance of how the engineering should be done, do we cut a ticket for implementation. And even then we might not be sure of the size of the work.

My pet theory is that at least 50% of the work done at a large organization is internally figuring out what the organization is doing. Want to know what the status of your product development is? Have an LLM look at slack messages and google docs and PRs and review comments over time and synthesize something for you. Seems like a great business idea tbh. Someone release us from the linear expectations so we can use it as an issue tracking tool again.

Comments

线性指标总是滞后指标。 Linear is always a lagging indicator

线性指标总是滞后指标。
Linear is always a lagging indicator