How do I know if my developers are coding fast enough?
- Kjell Moens
- May 19
- 1 min read
A founder once told me: “We need to start measuring how fast our developers are coding.”
I asked, “Why?”
He said,“Well… how else do I know if they’re coding fast enough?”
Fair question—but the wrong one.
Because speed alone isn’t a sign of progress.
A team can ship 10 features in a sprint…and still be standing still.
That’s the problem with chasing “developer velocity” metrics.
They tell you how fast code moves - not whether that code matters.
Here’s what actually moves a startup forward:
Time to Feedback.
How quickly do users respond to what you shipped?
How fast does a dev learn if the feature worked?
How short is the loop between effort and outcome?
You don’t win by building more.
You win by learning faster than the competition.
If your team is moving fast but flying blind, you’re not agile—you’re just busy.
Velocity is motion. Feedback is direction.
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