# Effort recalibration

_Published June 8, 2026_

**By [Eugenio Sanchez](https://mesmer.co/resources/author/eugenio)**

**Section:** Feature release

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Scores tended to be compressed. Most work landed in a narrow band in
the middle, so a trivial change and a hard one looked closer than they
actually were. The new model fine tunes our parameters to widen things
out.

_[Visual: effort scale, before vs. after recalibration]_

### How effort is scored

Three inputs feed the score. The first is structural — how big the
change actually is. Lines, files touched, how nested the code is, how
spread out the work is across the codebase. File types are weighted
differently too: docs count less than application code, for example.

The second is cognitive — how hard the code is to follow once you sit
down with it. Nested loops, branching, decision points. Part of this
read is done by a model that looks at the actual code rather than just
counting symbols.

The third is semantic. A bug fix and a chore and a new feature aren't
worth the same, so we apply a small adjustment based on what kind of
change it is.

### What to expect

- Low-effort work scores lower than before. Small mechanical changes
  read as small.
- High-effort work can exceed the old ceiling. Genuinely hard changes
  aren't capped anymore.
- The middle thins out, so the score is a clearer signal of how hard
  something actually was.
- All effort metrics after June 1st 2026 are now using the new
  calculation, this means we recalculated the effort of the first 5
  days of June.

If you want more detail around these changes or how we handle effort
feel free to reach out to
[support@mesmer.co](mailto:support@mesmer.co).

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Canonical: https://mesmer.co/resources/effort-recalibration