R0007/2026-03-19/C005 — Claim Definition¶
Claim as Received¶
Schulmeyer formalized the "Net Negative Producing Programmer" concept in 1992 — programmers whose defect rates are high enough that the cost of their errors exceeds the value of their output. In a typical team of ten, he estimated up to three may qualify.
Claim as Clarified¶
Schulmeyer formalized the "Net Negative Producing Programmer" concept in 1992 — programmers whose defect rates are high enough that the cost of their errors exceeds the value of their output. In a typical team of ten, he estimated up to three may qualify.
BLUF¶
Confirmed. Schulmeyer published "The Net Negative Producing Programmer" in American Programmer in 1992. He described NNPPs as programmers who "insert enough spoilage to exceed the value of their production." In a team of ten, he estimated up to three may qualify, and on high-defect projects (30-60 defects per KLOC), up to half may be NNPPs.
Scope¶
- Domain: Performance and productivity research
- Timeframe: As specified in claim
- Testability: Verifiable via published literature
Assessment Summary¶
Probability: Almost certain (95-99%)
Confidence: High
Hypothesis outcome: Claim is accurate as stated — Supported.
[Full assessment in assessment.md.]
Status¶
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Date created | 2026-03-19 |
| Date completed | 2026-03-19 |
| Researcher profile | Not provided |
| Prompt version | Unified Research Standard 1.0-draft |
| Revisit by | 2027-03-19 |
| Revisit trigger | New contradictory evidence or replication failure |