Build Blindness

[textile]I call this phenomenon "Build Blindness":

Unfortunately, if the red light is already on, we tend to ignore all the symptoms of a broken build because, after all, it's already broken. If the red light is on for more than an hour, build-is-broken becomes the natural state of affairs. from Agitar's Build Failures Policy on DeveloperTesting.com

I was inspired by the usability phenomenon of "banner blindness":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banner_blindness. Although different in many ways, Build Blindness can also result from a form of conditioning. The longer the build stays red, the less likely you will notice it's red. Agitar's policy document addresses this by suggesting specific steps to getting it green again, even if it requires a necessary compromise. One company I visited a while back had red builds that spanned weeks. No one seemed to notice (or be bothered) that it was red after while... it became the norm. This is something to avoid and I generally recommend positive reinforcement through monthly awards for the person with the lowest broken-build to check-in ratio and "fastest fixer" to avoid this (or turn it around). A leaderboard can be shown/commented on at the end of the daily stand-up... but just for a little fun... I wouldn't recommend using it as a stick to hit people with. Some fun awards like build breaker of the month or "klutz":http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=define%3Aklutz of the month can also compliment these awards. [/textile]