Negative metrics expose bad measures

Managers who insist on blunt numeric metrics can be forced to confront their flaws when workers invert or subvert the measure. Reporting a negative value (e.g., '-2000 lines') after an efficiency improvement reveals that the metric tracked the wrong thing and can prompt revision or abandonment of the metric. — Shows a low‑cost tactic for exposing and reforming bad managerial metrics across tech, public sector performance measurement, and algorithmic evaluation.