---
title: "The Worst Programmer I Know"
url: https://daily.dev/posts/the-worst-programmer-i-know-3p92ngcnx
source_url: https://dannorth.net/the-worst-programmer/
type: article
source: "Hacker News"
published: 2025-03-23T15:41:39.618Z
updated: 2025-03-23T15:41:55.112Z
tags: ["productivity"]
reading_time: 4
upvotes: 614
comments: 23
language: en
---

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# The Worst Programmer I Know

**[Hacker News](https://daily.dev/sources/hn)** · 4 min read · 614 upvotes · 23 comments

## Summary

The post discusses the pitfalls of measuring developer productivity using individual metrics and highlights the significance of team collaboration. The author shares an example of Tim Mackinnon, a programmer whose contributions to team success were not reflected in traditional productivity metrics. Instead of delivering software directly, Tim enhanced the team's overall productivity and cohesion, leading to greater business value. The story emphasizes the importance of assessing the collective impact of a team rather than individual outputs.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://dannorth.net/the-worst-programmer/>

## Community discussion

Top comments from developers on daily.dev.

**@daniel8000** · 20 upvotes

> Tim is a nice guy.

**@jrmemeichelbeck** · 8 upvotes

> ![image](https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--6SUOrfRT--/f_auto/v1742993483/ugc/content_1e1ae018-3045-45bb-819d-0719b4d95063)

**@improvedoutlook** · 6 upvotes

> Making others around us better. Should be the goal in every discipline.

**@courierviolation** · 5 upvotes

> This was a nice twist from the title

**@wojenka** · 1 upvotes

> Let's all love Tim

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---

Tags: [#productivity](https://daily.dev/tags/productivity)

[View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/the-worst-programmer-i-know-3p92ngcnx)