Volume finally matters: how agents are rewriting software engineering productivity

latticecut · x · 2026-10-09

poteto (ex-Shopify) argues that agents have inverted a long-held engineering norm: lines of code and PR counts never mattered because impact did — one config change could save millions.
Pre-agents, volume only surfaced in negative contexts, like low performers padding PRs; the metric was rightly distrusted.
With agents cheaply generating code at scale, an engineer's real job shifts to reviewing and gatekeeping massive agent output, so throughput and volume re-enter the productivity conversation.
He acknowledges the skepticism is earned but says the old impact-only framework no longer holds; teams need new evaluation models for the agent era.

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