Silly hats for build failures

Tuesday, 10 October 2006

Silly hats for build failures

Posted by Simon Baker

In our team, if you break the build you wear the hats.

Build hats Making broken builds fun Busy fixing

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2 Comments

Very nice. The last place I worked at we had a silver plastic "tiara of shame" for those who broke the test lab configuration. As part of the team that maintained it, I wore it more than once ...

Comment by Zac

Thanks for your comment, Zac. I like the idea of a 'tiara'. I bet that caused a bit of a giggle.

I'm not so comfortable with attaching shame. It's important that everyone understands that a broken build should be avoided and that they are responsible for achieving this. However, I feel that attaching shame will inevitably make people feel bad about themselves and this may have other negative and perhaps more destructive consequences for the team as a whole.

Some people will resent wearing the tiara and may refuse to do so. This takes the fun out of it. Others may become defensive. Others may not check-in as often as they should. All bad for the team, its discipline and its morale.

Comment by sjb140470

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Tuesday, 10 October 2006