[deleted]
My boss decided to add a “person to blame” field to every bug report
31–40 of 145 posts
Re: My boss decided to add a “person to blame” field to every bug report
#32The top answer has it exactly right. This should be Root Cause, since ultimately even bugs caused by human errors are really caused by systemic flaws. Some examples:
* SQLite has 1177 times as many tests as code (not a typo)
* Live television is broadcast with a 5-10 second delay
* IMVU automatically reverts commits pushed to the site if regressions are detected
* Netflix implemented a system called the Chaos Monkey, which randomly shuts
down processes. Ensures the system can survive any failure
* VLC, Unity3D, Windows, 3D Studio Max and many more applications phone
home crashes, which allows developers to quickly patch frequent issues
* Code reviews and pair programming ensure no one person's mistake
can break critical code sections
* Similarly, multiple people should sign off on copy written. For newsletters
and press releases the whole team should, since they can't be withdrawn
* Well designed systems automatically backup, and those backups are
automatically tested, so nothing is deleted forever
Ultimately it's up to the company to decide where the balance lies, and to live with the consequences. Startups will accept a drastically different risk profile to banks and Fortune 500 companies.
Re: My boss decided to add a “person to blame” field to every bug report
#33I was a senior manager in an organization where one of my peers essentially inserted a similar blame regime into our incident management process. It is a poisonous practice, but I actually loved my job and wanted to improve the place. So my team fought back.
The way that you defeat a system like this is to use it. Be humble, honest and calm, and go out of your way take the hits. But refuse to be blamed for things that aren't your responsibility. Force the problem people to do the same.
That undermines the system, as your putting the problem person in the uncomfortable position of taking responsibility for his actions. The whole point of "blame assignment" is to deflect blame from the golden children.
In my case, the blame regime lasted a few months. It collapses when the person pushing the regime is on the defensive too often.
Re: My boss decided to add a “person to blame” field to every bug report
#34Or they could replace the "person to blame" field with a commit revision. It is less personally offensive as the "person to blame" field and still gets to the same analytic data for reviews.
I do agree a "person to blame" field was obviously implemented by a "management only" oriented person to probably cover his/her own ass. Essentially this is a scorecard to give to his higher-ups to say "Hey look Bob is the one with all the issues, no me".
Re: My boss decided to add a “person to blame” field to every bug report
#35I wish bug trackers were better equipped to help find the real root cause of bugs, and more teams actually tried to track that data. Were the specs bad? Is there a problem with our process? Did we not write enough tests? Did someone just screw up? As it is, bug trackers are good at collecting information and letting you create a process that is as convoluted as you'd like to track the work towards coming up with and…
> I wish bug trackers were better equipped to help find the real root cause of bugs, and more teams actually tried to track that data. Were the specs bad? Is there a problem with our process? Did we not write enough tests? Did someone just screw up?
Some of that comes back to the concept of requirements traceability. Unfortunately it didn't quite make the agile cut. So it's languished in the pre-agile SEng world, locked up in clunky, heinously expensive tools.
Re: My boss decided to add a “person to blame” field to every bug report
#36Contrast with the Personal Software Process, where each programmer keeps personal records of every mistake they make, no matter how minor.
That the records are personal -- they belong to the programmer -- is repeated again and again.
Because when you keep management-accessible records like this, three stages occur:
1. "We won't use this to judge your performance and it will not be connected to reward or punishment".
2. It is eventually connected, directly or indirectly, to reward or punishment.
3. The indicator is gamed.
Re: My boss decided to add a “person to blame” field to every bug report
#37"Fix the problem, not the blame." - I first heard this in the movie Red October, I think. The other one that come to mind is John Wooden, the famous basketball coach, claiming that he liked players who made mistakes because those were the ones trying to make things happen.
Re: My boss decided to add a “person to blame” field to every bug report
#38Bad, bad, bad idea. The result is the devs who do most of the coding will get most of the blame that only demoralizes key contributors.
Unless you're also awarding gold stars for every bug-free line of code then this is just an unproductive disincentive.
Re: My boss decided to add a “person to blame” field to every bug report
#39I've always said that failure is the best learning experience. It's okay to make a mistake. Just don't make the same mistake twice. PS. Your boss is stupid.
I so agree. Do something right and you have just done something right. Make a mistake and learn from it, your knowledge has grown.
Re: My boss decided to add a “person to blame” field to every bug report
#40What is the point of posting this on stackexchange? I found the comments quite childish:
> Put your bosses name in that field for every bug. Convince your teammates to follow that practice, then wait how long this nonsense will last.
> Quit. No, don't look back. Just... quit. In your resignation letter, put Person to Blame: [Boss's Name]
What I would do is try to explain to them calmly and patiently why this is a bad idea. If this does not work, then just refuse putting blame on other people, and encourage others to do the same. If you really must do something childish to protest, put your own name on every bug that you file together with a nonsensical reason why are to blame for it.