Hey Mike, thank you for the article. This is rather selfish of me, but I'm fresh out of college and working on a tool to streamline code documentation. I would love your advice on what to focus on as I try to get off the ground. Would you be willing to talk or answer a few more specific questions about this post? hjconstas@docforge.net
Thank you for offering to help with some advice! I emailed this to you too, but for the sake of helping anyone else, I figured I'd include it here too. For context, I'm working on a documentation copilot for developers. It syncs docs with codebase changes, makes docs for new features, and abstracts away details for managers as needed.
Given there's so many things to focus on, I'm trying to decide what to target in terms of outcomes. These are what I'm thinking. Do you see any blind spots?
- Outbound replies and inbound messages. To track marketing/sales.
- Number of codebases indexed and documented. To track general growth.
- Automatic documentation changes accepted by users. Northstar.
Really valuable framework for avoiding metric dysfunction. The Wells Fargo example shows how operational incentives can create financial risk - TCLM explores similar dynamics in trade credit and working capital management, where the wrong metrics can quietly drain cash flow while everything looks good on paper. Might be useful alongside your measurement playbook.
Thanks for writing this, it clarifies alot, and makes me wonder, after reading your earlier article on ethical AI development, if metrics truely offer any objective truth or if they're always just an incomplete proxy for human experiance.
I think there is a place where they can give meaningful insights. The complexity of nuance along with the inherit nature of people hoping for all the things to work out/be the best ever can really make sorting things out a challenge. Thank you for the comment!
Great article Mike!! 👏 Couldn’t agree more. I’m such a big lover of data but I’ve seen the impact of setting the wrong metrics, where people start to focus on the metric not the problem we were trying to solve. This is such a great guide to help make sure we’re measuring and working on the right things.
Ps congrats on building your mobile app!!! I’m not on android, but let me know if you ever need an iOS tester.
Hey Mike, thank you for the article. This is rather selfish of me, but I'm fresh out of college and working on a tool to streamline code documentation. I would love your advice on what to focus on as I try to get off the ground. Would you be willing to talk or answer a few more specific questions about this post? hjconstas@docforge.net
For sure! Just message me through here or send an email to mike@productparty.us
Thank you for offering to help with some advice! I emailed this to you too, but for the sake of helping anyone else, I figured I'd include it here too. For context, I'm working on a documentation copilot for developers. It syncs docs with codebase changes, makes docs for new features, and abstracts away details for managers as needed.
Given there's so many things to focus on, I'm trying to decide what to target in terms of outcomes. These are what I'm thinking. Do you see any blind spots?
- Outbound replies and inbound messages. To track marketing/sales.
- Number of codebases indexed and documented. To track general growth.
- Automatic documentation changes accepted by users. Northstar.
Really valuable framework for avoiding metric dysfunction. The Wells Fargo example shows how operational incentives can create financial risk - TCLM explores similar dynamics in trade credit and working capital management, where the wrong metrics can quietly drain cash flow while everything looks good on paper. Might be useful alongside your measurement playbook.
(It’s free)- https://tradecredit.substack.com/
Thanks for writing this, it clarifies alot, and makes me wonder, after reading your earlier article on ethical AI development, if metrics truely offer any objective truth or if they're always just an incomplete proxy for human experiance.
I think there is a place where they can give meaningful insights. The complexity of nuance along with the inherit nature of people hoping for all the things to work out/be the best ever can really make sorting things out a challenge. Thank you for the comment!
Great article Mike!! 👏 Couldn’t agree more. I’m such a big lover of data but I’ve seen the impact of setting the wrong metrics, where people start to focus on the metric not the problem we were trying to solve. This is such a great guide to help make sure we’re measuring and working on the right things.
Ps congrats on building your mobile app!!! I’m not on android, but let me know if you ever need an iOS tester.
Thank you! I'm going to get it on iOS soon - I will definitely reach out.