Same reaction. They might be super transparent and everyone (in the comments at the bottom of the post) are in awe of it, but these numbers just make no sense.
I don't get it. What's the point of your post? You don't think there's any value in sharing how they did it? You really think they might bet copied and eventually failed because they shared their stories on HN or something?
I would start by looking at job description in hot "big data" startup to see what skills and technology they list. That should get you started and avoid learning the wrong stuff.
After reading about Joel Spolsky "What Programmers Want" survey, I thought it'd be interesting to know how programmers feel about their current employer.
I should have made it clearer that this shouldn't be allowed to individuals not meeting deadlines. That would not make sense. But actually, one of our best employee actually enjoy a little bikeshedding here and there. I blame his young age but it actually bring some fun in when it's most needed. Sometimes you just need to cool down.
Honestly I think they are the same in term of impact in the spirit and fun they bring to the workplace. The "n/a" versus "ø" discussion will be settled by me sticking to use "n/a" as it's most commonly understood. No need to A/B test it imho. But that's not the point. My point is that it's not "always" required to crack down on silly discussion. I am not saying you should let your guys spend their day discussing that kind of stuff. I am simply don't kill all the fun as long as product is being shipped.