Everyone knows this to some extent. 'Good atmosphere' and 'good community'. it's true that these things are great for productivity. But the question is, once you try to measure them, do they actually get better?

People aren't stupid. They can tell the difference between genuine communication and small talk, and there's a gap between field work and theory.

In practice, people usually trust someone who's 'reliable,' but management discourse believes that these things can be quantified, modeled, reported, and managed. Honestly, I see that as a religion.

What exactly is a 'good atmosphere'? Survey scores? Team comparisons? Manager evaluations? This is exactly Goodhart's law. The moment a measurement becomes a target, the thing you originally wanted to measure becomes distorted.

That's why I think the idea that productivity can be measured and exists in human relationships is an illusion.

And honestly, I think pushing everything toward productivity actually makes things worse.

Of course, you might think differently. Maybe discovering better metrics, better values, and better modeling could change things. I think that's possible. But I'm not sure if it's actually achievable.