2026-07-13
Goodhart's Law: When Metrics Stop Measuring What Matters
- 95% Dutch average accuracy
- 372-day streak
- Level 23, going to 24
And still, I can't have a conversation in Dutch. This is just a Monday morning reminder that with the wrong metrics, you might look very productive while going absolutely nowhere.
Goodhart's law: "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure." Which shows up in my Duolingo journey by a dozen times where I saved my streak at 23:57, rushing through the exercise (0 learning here).
Make sure the outcome is the #1 metric. The outputs that are supposed to reflect the outcome just come as extras. 💁🏻♂️
Any metrics you've found totally irrelevant, lately? 😅
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TOP COMMENTS
I stopped Duolingo because I noticed how much it was stilling my time, and how little was giving me back. This year, I went to Japan, and decided to learn Japanese for 3 months intensively. I used Duolingo a lot. In a cafe, when I ordered a big coffee, the clerk said something, and I didn't know what to answer, and I embarrassed, said "Yes." The clerked looked at me, "Here" or "there" pointing outside. That's when I realized I learned words, not communication. … more
David
Don't rely on DuoLingo to teach you conversational languages. I got pretty far in my French lessons to find out I have not really advanced much more than I already knew when I visited a friend in France :D After that I just used DuoLingo as a game to score higher in the leagues.
Julya