Software development, by its nature, is tedious. Attention to detail ensures quality, reliability and usability. But all work and no play makes developers go crazy. That’s why I think the best developers find creative games to enhance their process. Here are a few examples of developers having fun that I’ve seen over the last couple of decades…
Romper Room
Back in the day, I worked on a project to create one of the first object-oriented languages and development toolkits. Hours were long, the project was long overdue, financial pressure was mounting on the company, and the development team was burning out. The head of R&D sent a couple of guys over to Toys R Us with a little budget, and they returned ‘armed to the teeth’. They bought a clown punching bag, a series of Nerf guns, foam rubber baseball bats – generally a bunch of stuff that allowed our team to release some steam. For the first time in a long time, you could hear laughter and fun conversations. The toys lasted about 24 hours before being reduced to rubble, but they completely rejuvenated morale.
Lorem Ipsum
Recently, while discussing page layouts with some web developers I am collaborating with, the topic of filler text arose. I mentioned one that I had been using instead of the standard issue Lorem Ipsum called Bacon Ipsum. As it turns out, they knew of another one called Samuel L. Jackson Ipsum, and when searching for that, I found dozens more random text generators designed to put a smile on someone’s face, including Gangsta and Fillerama. Any of these are simply designed to make the developer/designers job a bit easier and more fun.
Easter Eggs
I don’t know how many people other than game studios do this anymore, but I always enjoyed Easter Eggs. Whether it was for hidden glory of the development team (pressing a series of keys to roll the developers’ credits) or to entertain with a game, easter eggs provide another way to release tension.
Office Pranks
I used to share an office with a fellow product marketing manager. He was away on a 3 week world marketing tour once, and returned to find paper effigies of himself in a mobile over his desk. But that was only a sliver of what he was going to find. I had made thousands of them, embedding them in file folders, burying them in every drawer of his desk, stuffing them in his bags. He found them for months.
I’ve seen balloons stuffed in cubicles, tin foil wrapped over furniture and items glued to the desk. Office pranks are another outlet for pent-up frustration. Find one of your own and let the good times roll.
The work-life balance is out of hand for many of us in software development. We’re answering emails from the bathroom, remoting into servers long after leaving the office and taking laptops on vacation with us. So having a little fun on the job seems only fair. It sure helps morale and builds camaraderie. If you’re a manager, make sure your team knows it’s OK!