When a token changes its meaning mid-stream

re: When a token changes its meaning mid-stream

Fred MacIntyre — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 20:32:37 GMT

So? What happened then? Did the shirt mysteriously disappear in the dead of night? Was there a new anti-prize?

re: When a token changes its meaning mid-stream

jeffdav — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 21:07:02 GMT

We had a similar "prize" on the MSN Explorer team. The dev manager bought a singin'-dancin' James Brown as a reward. It was cool but incredibly annoying to have people stop in, press the button, and have to listen to "I feel good." After about the 20th listen the trophy instantly metamorphisized into something you got when you broke the build, etc; just like the Hawaiian shirt.

The team was re-org'd and James Brown came with us to the shell team where it continued its duties for awhile. Eventually I ended up with it when the guy across the hall from me moved offices and left it in my office rather than pack it, the sneaky jerk. So I found a nice home for it off campus where it can do no more harm.

re: When a token changes its meaning mid-stream

Chris Peterson — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 21:38:15 GMT

I worked at a startup where the anti-prize for breaking the build was a banana yellow hotjobs.com hat. The implied (joke) threat was that you'll need to find a new job if you keep breaking the build. Plus the hat was butt ugly. :)

re: When a token changes its meaning mid-stream

SuperBK — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 21:55:26 GMT

I worked at a company where there were two prizes for breaking the build: First a box that said "I broke the build" hanging above your cubicle, Then second prize was a topless half of a plastic manaquien with a light in it.

re: When a token changes its meaning mid-stream

Tim Smith — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 03:18:04 GMT

We had the pimp hat until one of the programmers liked it and would break the build to keep it.

:O

:)

re: When a token changes its meaning mid-stream

Francis — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 16:56:01 GMT

The manager in question did lead the IE effort for the three versions, but the Hawaiian shirt incident took place on the next team he ran- the Microsoft Virtual Machine for Java. He was on vacation when we spontaneously changed the meaning of the "shirt award."

People who had previously won the shirt had already asked sarcastic questions like "Does this mean I have to wear it?" There was also some concern about whether the shirt had been washed anytime recently.

When our group manager came back from vacation, he was more than a bit surprised at the new reward system we had instituted for the devs.

I can't recall who's idea it was, but I'm pretty sure the turning point was someone's build break. It just seemed natural to stick the offender with the tacky shirt of shame.

re: When a token changes its meaning mid-stream

Marc Bernard — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 18:08:50 GMT

We've got a CD (probably an AOL CD) with "You Screwed Me!" written on it. The lucky winner of a broken build, or a bug, gets to display the CD prominently, and can only get rid of it when someone else screws up.

I like the idea of the Hawaiian shirt though - much more noticible.

re: When a token changes its meaning mid-stream

Bob — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 22:19:19 GMT

At my last startup, we had a large Godzilla model tat we called it Brozilla (see http://www.brozilla.com). You got Brozilla when you screwed up the build. You passed it along when someone else screwed up.

re: When a token changes its meaning mid-stream

Anthony Bowyer-Lowe — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 14:51:44 GMT

At one videogames company I worked at, we had a laminated dollar bill which would be placed on the desk of the last build-breaker...

"The buck stopped here."

Such a publicly visible indicator has several functions. One is to signal to the entire team who's responsible for either fixing or chasing a fix. Another is to ensure that the person responsible is constantly aware that their major priority should be to get it fixed - no web-surfing for you, matey.

The Cafes » Go Ahead. Break the Build!

The Cafes » Go Ahead. Break the Build! — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 16:11:41 GMT

PingBack from http://cafe.elharo.com/testing/go-ahead-break-the-build/

License 2 Code » Spawn of the Broken Build

License 2 Code » Spawn of the Broken Build — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 06:49:40 GMT

PingBack from http://license2code.com/2007/04/10/spawn-of-the-broken-build/