“Whatever you measure will improve. This is a warning”

 I don't usually get very political on this blog, but here is a great point that ties in to follies of managing technical projects:

There’s a saying from computer science. 

“Whatever you measure will improve. This is a warning”

Whether it’s metrics you’re applying to employees, or unit tests of AIs, or fulfilling statistical victories. 

Want more lines of code written? Done, now no one writes short, snappy code and every if statement uses three different lines.

Want this neural net that’s learning how to walk to reach the furthest distance? Now it makes itself impossibly tall so that when it falls down, the top of it reaches further. 

Want more jobs? Well, the finger on that monkey paw is curling up as you speak. 

(via esoteric-merit on this tumblr entry)