Your code is worthless
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Using lines of code (LOC) as a productivity metric is a dangerous vanity metric, especially in the age of AI-generated code. Drawing on Bill Atkinson's famous -2,000 LOC entry and critiquing Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan's celebration of 37,000 AI-generated lines per day, the argument is made that code volume is not value. Three alternative metrics are proposed: User Outcomes (does the user's life improve?), Time-to-Value and feedback loop speed (more code slows CI/CD and breaks developer flow), and Utility-to-Maintenance ratio (unused AI-generated features are technical debt weeds). AI coding tools are not condemned outright, but the incentive structures that reward token burn over thoughtful engineering are criticized sharply.
Table of contents
1. User Outcomes: The “Windows” Litmus Test2. Time-to-Value: Physics of a feedback loop3. Utility to Maintenance: Use it or Lose itConclusionSort: