Resources

    Guides, comparisons and engineering notes on measuring developer time, human and agent. Everything here is written from how the measurement actually works, not from how it is marketed.

    Showing 13–24 of 70 posts
    How Many Hours Do Developers Actually Code? (The Real Numbers)
    Guides

    How Many Hours Do Developers Actually Code? (The Real Numbers)

    Studies put real hands-on coding time between 52 minutes and 6 hours a day, not 8. Here is what RescueTime, Amazon, and 2026 survey data actually found, and why the range is so wide.

    Matt
    How to Track How Much Time You Spend Coding (2026 Guide)
    Guides

    How to Track How Much Time You Spend Coding (2026 Guide)

    A step-by-step way to track how much time you actually spend coding, why manual guesses run short, and which layer (plugin, git, telemetry) gets you a number you can trust.

    Matt
    The Engineering Manager Productivity Dashboard: What to Track (and What to Cut) in 2026
    Guides

    The Engineering Manager Productivity Dashboard: What to Track (and What to Cut) in 2026

    What actually belongs on an engineering manager's productivity dashboard in 2026: DORA for delivery, churn for quality, leverage for effort, and why commit counts and lines of code should be deleted, not displayed. A builder's guide to the dashboard, not a vendor's.

    Matt
    DORA Metrics Explained: The 4 (Now 5) Delivery Metrics That Still Matter in 2026
    Guides

    DORA Metrics Explained: The 4 (Now 5) Delivery Metrics That Still Matter in 2026

    DORA metrics explained: what deployment frequency, lead time for changes, change failure rate, time to restore service, and reliability actually measure, why they survived the AI-generated code era when volume metrics did not, and how a solo developer or small team can track them without buying an enterprise platform.

    Matt
    Engineering Productivity Metrics That Actually Work in 2026
    Guides

    Engineering Productivity Metrics That Actually Work in 2026

    Engineering productivity metrics in 2026: track delivery (DORA), quality (churn and change failure rate), and leverage (output per unit of real effort) instead of commits, lines, or hours. Which metrics survived the AI era, which to retire, and a small stack that works for individuals and small teams.

    Matt
    How to Measure Developer Productivity in 2026 (Without Lying to Yourself)
    Guides

    How to Measure Developer Productivity in 2026 (Without Lying to Yourself)

    How to measure developer productivity in 2026: measure outcomes over activity, use a small set of hard-to-fake signals, and track leverage (output per unit of effort) instead of lines, commits, or hours. A practical method for individuals and small teams in the AI era.

    Matt
    Code Metrics That Matter in 2026 (and the Ones That Lie to You)
    Guides

    Code Metrics That Matter in 2026 (and the Ones That Lie to You)

    The code metrics that matter in 2026, ranked by how hard they are to fake: churn, rework, review depth, leverage, and shipped scope. Plus the vanity metrics (lines of code, commit counts, velocity points) that AI-generated code just broke.

    Matt
    Git Analytics in 2026: What Your Repo Data Can (and Cannot) Tell You
    Guides

    Git Analytics in 2026: What Your Repo Data Can (and Cannot) Tell You

    A builder's guide to git analytics in 2026: what commit history genuinely reveals, where it lies now that AI writes half the diffs, the main tools compared, and how to turn repo data into proof instead of vanity charts.

    Matt
    Time Tracking for Remote Developers: Output Beats Surveillance (2026)
    Guides

    Time Tracking for Remote Developers: Output Beats Surveillance (2026)

    Time tracking for remote developers in 2026: why screenshot monitoring fails, the 5 best passive trackers compared, and how to prove your output across timezones without being watched.

    Matt
    Coding Time Tracker for Students: The 5 Best Picks in 2026
    Guides

    Coding Time Tracker for Students: The 5 Best Picks in 2026

    The best coding time tracker for students in 2026: free picks compared, what each one tracks, and how to turn practice hours into proof you can show your first employer.

    Matt
    Vim Time Tracking: How to Track Coding Time in Vim and Neovim (2026)
    Guides

    Vim Time Tracking: How to Track Coding Time in Vim and Neovim (2026)

    How to set up Vim time tracking in 2026: the vim-wakatime plugin, DIY autocmd loggers, git-based inference, and telemetry, what each one misses in a terminal-native workflow, and how to get hours you can actually trust.

    Matt
    JetBrains Time Tracking: How to Track Coding Time in IntelliJ and Its IDEs (2026)
    Guides

    JetBrains Time Tracking: How to Track Coding Time in IntelliJ and Its IDEs (2026)

    How to set up JetBrains time tracking in 2026: the built-in task timer, plugins, git-based, and telemetry options, what each one misses across IntelliJ, PyCharm, WebStorm and the rest, and how to get hours you can trust.

    Matt

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