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Google Releases 'Testing on the Toilet'
JasonK writes "Here's a type of Google launch you don't see every day: Testing on the Toilet. This is a service that has been apparently been running internally for several months and teaching developers about testing during their 'down time,' so to speak. Due to the wild success of the program inside of Google, they decided to start a blog where they will post these weekly episodes so that the rest of us can print them out and have our own reading on the can. Is this a step towards Google becoming more open about their development practices?"
So now Google's gunning for Uncle John's Bathroom Reader ?
Honestly, I don't see this as a positive development. My time on the pot is a time for reflection and grunting. If someone leaves the section with the comics and "Dear Abby" in the stall, I might elect to read, but I prefer to dump and run (TMI??). Also, knowing what Google employees are reading while they crap... Would "disquieting" be the right word for the sense of unease this gives me?
- Greg
Start a happiness pandemic
... considering most employees aren't half as anally-retentive as them.
== Jez ==
Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
This idea may be a little shitty... We can't even just relax and clear our minds when we're layin' a brick?
Help save the critically endangered Blue Iguana
At least testing PC software while taking a dump is easier than trying to control the pointing remote and a man's urine stream at once.
Swedish plasma phys. PhD student; MSc EE; knows maths, programming, electronics; finance interest; seeks opportunities
I seem to recall having read something about how reading on the john is bad for you. The idea is that if you are constipated, you should wait for the movement, and not sit there and get all agitated and stressed. You are not supposed to push them out, as it can damage you and/or make the constipation worse in the long run. The article was written by a MD, IIRC. The one quote that sticks out in my mind is, "you wouldn't take a dump in the library, so don't read in the toilet".
Mr.... *Poopypants*!?!?!?!" -Lt. Frank Drebin
No that's thinking outside of the box! Personally, I like to do testing in the kitchen, then QA in the shower, then go production on the can... but that's just me.
This is the NSA, we're gonna geet U h@x0r5! Also, what is a h@x0r5?
Also, the hidden Web Cams in the female lavatory stalls are strictly for teleconferencing... during the downtime.
Obama likes poor people so much, he wants to make more of them.
this is the result of the "Fire Hose" feature that slashdot has.
Stories selected by mobs.
My 50 year old company has been putting out "The Porcelain Press" in the can for years. They do it mostly for health & safety stuff, but the idea's the same. It just took Google a few decades to catch up.
the post is on a blog site, not on Google, April 1st a little early....
www.effectiveelectrons.com "chips that work" Analog, RF, Mixed Signal
... would purchase a dedicated tablet device for reading google news while on the can.
C|N>K
If this is a reflection of the Google Culture, then count me out. Are they all insane enough to think that every moment (including taking a shit) should be spent thinking about The Company? It seems to me they've developed a culture of True Believers that wouldn't even think there's something wrong with invading the bathroom with more work.
I know someone is going to come back to me with "It's not work.. it's fun!". Just keep drinking that kool-aid buddy. Eventually you're going to figure out that there's more to life than work.
Next up at google.. Google Dreams. A quiet voice plays back a list of abstract google-related words while you sleep, some of which will certainly influence your dreams.
AccountKiller
when you need him?
This code is just good enough...for me to poop on!
One other thing, can I assume that this is in the Mens toilets only? Most women won't touch anything that has been in a bathroom (like magazines and newspapers) so I'm guessing keyboards are out, too.
Google Testing Blog, November 15:
Today I was hanging a clock above my toilet, when I fell and hit my head. I ended up having a vision of a new way to make sure code works properly (there also was some idea for a new hardware component -- some sort of capacitor -- but I'm a software engineer and don't know how to deal with those things; hopefully it wasn't very important).
... why most of google offerings are still at alpha/beta stage after they make they are first released to the public :)
Another creative use for "Lincoln Logs".
I have a great picture of the "executive" restroom for several years ago but it is a pity I cannot post it. This picture is perfect for this.
...is usually limited to checking the TP to know when to stop wiping.
Serious, if you have time to read on the toilet, maybe you should consider adding some bran fiber to your diet.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
Sitting on the toilet too long can lead to hemorrhoids. Reading software testing documentation on the toilet can't be any better for your bunghole.
Edith Keeler Must Die
If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Tried to test, and only farted.
Then one day I took a chance,
Passed the test and shit my pants!
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
surely logging-out ...
In the dorm in my college (one of the few with old style community bathrooms), we put up a weekly newsletter called "Stall Notes" that has upcoming events, humorous awards for the past week, a top 10 list, and some other rotating features. It's a really good way to ensure that everyone gets the message since no one looks at bulletin boards or email memos. If Google can use something like this to be more productive, good for them.
I RTFA, but it was one of the comments that amused me:
Ahem. 'Doodling on their PDA'? So is that what you kids call it these days?
"Sheesh, who just dumped core? Light a match!"
-Kernel Boot Rom
Toil is Stupid. Don't be Stupid.
If I didn't know better I'd say Google was having an increasingly difficult time
squeezing out well formed ideas. (And something about this one smells a little off.) It might
be because they're just not flushing out the bad ideas, but it also might be an
indication that Google needs to unclog their management and wipe themselves clean
of this "Testing Grouplet". While it is true that great ideas have plopped out of Google, I think
our apparently limitless enthusiasm for anything and everything that spews from Google may have had
the effect of loosening up their releases to the point of being soft and formless.
My two cents.
------ The best brain training is now totally free : )
what a way to teat workers
Speaking of bathroom etiquette, if its a single bathroom, please knock on the door before just jiggling the handle to test if its locked. One day I might forget to lock the door and then we'll both be in for a rude surprise
Regarding automated tests...write them!
Once you get a framework in place, it really does make you feel better about writing new code and modifying old. It also helps with your design by forcing you to write components that are loosely coupled (i.e., they can be tested easily because they have little to no external dependencies)
If you feel overwhelmed and don't know where to start, start by writing tests for new code and worrying about old code until later.
...whatever makes you that extra billion.
my mom posts on slashdot.
Despite the veneer of amiability about this project, I find it faintly disturbing. Why?
I think it's the attempt to work the job and group mindset into every part of an employee's day and life. The insinuation (by default) that an employee will want (not just be expected to) to contribute to the company in this way; even in rare "private time" like this (*).
I think what really bothered me (in this context) was the group-oriented friendliness. It took me a while to figure out why, then I realised that it was faintly reminiscent of a cult. Not the mass-suicide, Waco types (or at least, not at that stage), but the friendly pressure "we're your friends and we want to help you" newcomer stage- often with good intentions by those taking part (**)- where the group slowly enters every aspect of the newcomer's life.
Okay, I'm reading too much into this now; just bear in mind that Google's uber-friendly, everything-you-want-here campuses and the like have the advantage of keeping their employees happy, productive and within the Google sphere of influence. Sinister or not?
(*) Please *don't* start a discussion about how, as the employee is being paid during work hours, this is reasonable. Besides which, the employee- of their own volition- would probably be thinking about their work while they were on the toilet anyway. Plus, it's often more productive to give the mind a rest or let it wander every so often. Isn't it normal and healthy for employees to think about something else (e.g. outside interests) every so often?
(**) Yes, I did notice that this project was started by volunteers. Draw your own conclusions.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
It all made sense, and they had me right up until they said "print out..." Come on, /.'ers, fess up, there's gotta be a pretty good percentage of you laptop owners that do computer-related activites on the can, *without* printing out anything, if you know what I mean.
I expected the story to involve tablets or kiosk-like computers in the stalls. I was half thinking of inventing a little discrete flip-up table/shelf for laptops for use by nerds in the loo. ThinkGeek, drop me a line, and we'll market this puppy.
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
Shit out a patch for it?
It'd be much more helpful if you could print blogs in toilet paper.
No, you cannot assume. They are posted in the women's bathroom also, on the back of the door so it's right in front of you. No hands involved.
At my current (well, my last day is tomorrow) job, we had a testing suite. His name was Bob. He launched IE and clicked things and entered random data and tried to break our web apps. When I suggested that we automate our testing, someone asked "How would we automate testing?"
That's kinda when I decided I should leave.
I'm in the hole of the broadband donut.
Decades from now, when we are suffering under the tyranny of Google, we will wistfully look back on this as the moment when they started to become evil. It always starts small, and with the best of intentions. I JUST WANNA TAKE A DUMP, OK??? LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!
No, you cannot assume. They are posted in the women's bathroom also, on the back of the door so it's right in front of you. No hands involved.
I can only assume it is the same in the men's.
It was indeed a very weird environment. I have worked in other big companies, but never say anything like that. The day my contract ended was a good one.
Really!? You need to go about once a day. Do it at home and stink up your own house. I think some of these bastards save it up for the office just to keep their families from having to smell their stench. And then there are the construction guys who come work in the office occasionally. I *know* these people never shit at home. My brother works construction and he used to come to *my* house to take a crap. Dirty bastards.
Shit at home. And don't wipe snot on the wall above the urinal you sick freak.
It's a crap!
I find it ironic that i am sitting on the john while reading this article (at school no less)
brickspeed.net for your old Volvo performance addiction
Teat's and toilets? Have you been watching German sheize videos again???
There's already something similar in some of the more modern lady's rooms around; it's a spring-mounted shelf that you pull down and put your purse/whatever on, which then keeps you from opening the stall door without first removing your belongings. I thought it was really quite clever the first time I saw one; it also helps reduce the incidence of people reaching over the top of the door and snagging your purse from the coat hook while you sit there and watch helplessly.
Uh, "if it looks roughly mouse-shaped according to my infra-red sensitive pit, eat it"? --Chris Burke 09-08-10
Metric spaces are the perfect accompaniment to a nice healthy number two.
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
Woah, just when I was thinking that all that hype about Google only hiring geniuses through multiple grueling interviews was a bunch of BS, I read this. This is a true sign of genius to be sure. It gets me thinking I should go down and apply to work with them, but then I remember what a living hell it is to work with very many smart computer people in a matrix management. Plus I think that something Bad is going to happen to Google --there is no precedent for an entity like that in the history of Western Civilization and virtually all such references to that kind of company in science fiction and philosophical literary works throughout time have been negative. At some point Google goes away and the function is broken up into multiple entities, this much is clear, but what is not known is how much higher the stock goes before then and what the mechanism for its dissolution will be. But testing in the throne, that's just genius. Hopefully, before Google's demise, it's utopian work practices will be embraced throughout the next generation of Corporate America as DIGITAL's once were from the 1950s-1980s. (Hell, many people do not even know who DIGITAL is/was at this point --the same will be ever so much more certain with Google.)
How about they let me pull my Wii out in the bathroom and play with THAT instead.
This will prompt competitors to devolop Turd Burglars.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
just think of all the shit work those testers at google have to doo.
In my experience all computer languages are learned on the toilet; I've only met one programmer who claimed otherwise, and he was maladjusted in other ways as well.
"No matter where you go, there you probably are." -- Buckaroo Heisenberg
Not content with taking over everything else, they now aim to become "number 1" in the "number 2" business.
They really seem to be getting their "shit" together.
It's all part of their plan to "bowl" over the competition.
Thanks, I'll be here all week. Please tip your bartenders.
Repant. Thy end is sheer.
I've seen those posters. Long, detailed small-type discussions of code coverage analysis mounted above urinals. Last week's poster: Google measures code coverage on a per-statement basis. Really.
Visiting Google HQ bothers me a bit. I'm the guy who did Downside, tracking failing dot-coms, and I see too many similarities between Google today and some of the more exuberant dot-coms. Google's business is basically AdWords and a search engine; on the side, they also operate a bunch of unprofitable dot-coms. YouTube, Gmail, and the web apps aren't profitable. If anything happens to force AdWords prices down, like an advertising price war with Microsoft or trouble with the pay-per-click model, Google may have problems.
Google has a lot of smart people, but somehow that's not translating into new, profitable product lines.
I often get breakthroughs there but it's because it's a place where I can relax. If I felt as pressured to get work done there as at my desk, I'm sure the magic will stop working.
Sheisse. Dummkopf.
I also work at Google but in an international site (which I won't mention). The ToT thing is also here. When I received the first internal e-mail about it (in November I think to remember) I just coudn't believe it and immediately thought it was unacceptable. But hey, it's Google, and we know that no one criticizes anything here -- at least openly!
Personally, I cannot be bothered to carry reading material to the pot. However, when the natural cycle is slow enough, I rather like the idea of having some interesting reading material conveniently available.
In the past, I can remember seeing special toilet paper that contained jokes, quotes or similar material. The main difference here is that the material is more useful and can be provided at lower cost.
"...but have the guy at the front desk smack them in the face and call them a bitch when they first walk in the door in the morning."
Sign me up.
Being smart doesn't mean that your are going to be good at your job. Not at all. There are many other important characteristics like creativity, attention to detail, honestly, passion, etc. And of course, successfully going through a certain type of interviews doesn't mean you are smart either. Just that you are their type of person, which in the case of seems to be a puzzle solver.
Do you think your description would also fit Yahoo? They seem to make most of their money via their advertisement system - their other services don't really make much profit - maybe yahoo mail could be profitable (don't know), but I don't know.
Also, what about TV networks - they are basically just advertising agency with video production on the side.
You forgot to mention the BIGGEST difference between Google today and those exuberant failing dot-coms - Google has a strong revenue stream, with good growth, and a technically superior product. *shrug* I guess it isn't enough.
Have you thought what you are seeing isn't dot-com, but the technical culture of the valley?
PS: Anyone who uses code coverage measures it on at least a per-statement basis, preferably finer-grained than that. That's not really a big surprise.
Only Google can release something in the toilet and make the front page for doing so.
... to work it out?
Call me old fashioned, but I like a dump to be as memorable as it is devastating - Bender
Waht a wey too treet teh inglish langwaje too!!!
Pretty soon the blog will be titled "The Wee..kly Toilet Testing Blog". (Sorry, couldn't resist) Next, management will find some way to work "Privy Testing" into the project methodology.
Come on. Engineers need some time to relax from the very stressful work they do. What better time to relax for a minute than when in the toilet? :)
(how long until your manager asks you why you didn't solve that bug when you come out of the WC?)
...to the term 'Googlebombing'.
...and we were required to post "Premises may be under audio/video surveillance(sp)" posters somewhere where employees would see it, I always posted it eye level from sitting position on the crapper.
"Champagne for my real friends - and real pain for my sham friends!" http://ericblade.postalboard.com/
Here I sit
broken-hearted -
came to shit
but only farted.
But Google Test
saved us all
by testing best
in the stall.
appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars
At least when the toilet paper dispenser runs out, they can always use the "emergency supplies"
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
I'm wary of any article using both 'toilet' and 'launch' in the same sentence.
Reminds me of this blog: http://www.googleisskynet.com/ and this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3Qqc13Ihk8 Excuse me while I go start building a bomb shelter.
Scheisse. Klugscheisser.
>Also, your phobia of the words 'toilet' and 'shit' is humourous.
:)
It's not a "phobia", it's just (a degree of) class.
Life is not made any more enjoyable by everyone using
the earthiest words that they can think of all the time
and in all circumstances.
And it's hardly cool or rebellious anymore - if you want
to be a rebel these days, clean up your speech
He works it out with a sliderule.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Wow, I'm dissapointed nobody has come out with the obligatory "I thought this would have been developed at Microsoft being that most of their work is shit anyway" and some lame attempt at wit by talking about submitting their TP(S) reports.
I need to see those logs on my desk in 5 MINUTES!!!
A goal is a dream with a deadline
The good: You have some extra paper in case you run out.
The bad: Google employees won't be able to shit anymore unless they are reading something. Can someone try to verify this one by checking the home toilet of a Google friend?
I'm not sure why everyone is getting so worked up about it. I think it's a clever idea, and I look forward to new issues. Besides, I almost always learn something!
-B
Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.
I don't know about you, but it disturbs me to see the words toilet and running internally in the same sentence!
I can hear the jokes now:
Where's Bob? Oh, he Ada too many Korn shells and now he's very Pro-Log. He's behind in his work, though, because the testing platform is backed up.
In Soviet Russia, the toilet tests YOU!
Brings new meaning to "Core dumps"
So are Google's people a bunch of tight-asses, or do they just need some bran?