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?"

This is easy for bosses to suggest...

[jez9999]

... considering most employees aren't half as anally-retentive as them.

Somebody has to say it!

[ErikTheRed]

This idea may be a little shitty... We can't even just relax and clear our minds when we're layin' a brick?

Compare to Wiiing and weeing

[tepples]

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.

"Can't we act like adults...

[maynard]

Mr.... *Poopypants*!?!?!?!" -Lt. Frank Drebin

Cute idea

[countSudoku()]

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.

It's all about productivity!

[megaditto]

Also, the hidden Web Cams in the female lavatory stalls are strictly for teleconferencing... during the downtime.

Story quality

[Danathar]

this is the result of the "Fire Hose" feature that slashdot has.

Stories selected by mobs.

blog

[the_tsi]

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).

My core dump analysis...

[Anonymous Coward]

...is usually limited to checking the TP to know when to stop wiping.

More bran fibre in the diet.

[aristotle-dude]

Serious, if you have time to read on the toilet, maybe you should consider adding some bran fiber to your diet.

Re:Another reason not to work for Google.

[Anonymous Coward]

Eventually you're going to figure out that there's more to life than work.

Yeah, staring off blankly into space while you take a shit is really living life to the fullest. Get a grip man.

Here I sit all broken hearted

[Profane MuthaFucka]

Tried to test, and only farted.
Then one day I took a chance,
Passed the test and shit my pants!

Re:Another reason not to work for Google.

[geekoid]

The first time a manager hands me some test documentation to read in the can, will be the second time I hand a manager a poop wrapped in a test document.

'Doodling on their PDA', huh?

[eabell]

I RTFA, but it was one of the comments that amused me:

"A similar thing was/is in use at a place I worked. People made an effort to stay in the toilet for a long time (doodling on their PDA) and later claimed they were reading the work notes... :)"

Ahem. 'Doodling on their PDA'? So is that what you kids call it these days?

This is a shitty idea

[popo]

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 road to hell is paved with good intentions

[Anonymous Coward]

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!!!!

Re:Huh? Wha?

[SeaFox]

I would say it's normal for a few oddball ideas to emerge when a company has squeezed several successful projects out. They just get a little headstrong when they've been flush with good ideas lately.

Obligatory Admiral Akbar quote.

[Cimon Avaro]

It's a crap!

Re:Huh? Wha?

[Anonymous Coward]

New products may make a splash, but pity the guy who has to examine the logs.

Re:Huh? Wha?

[Lord Ender]

No distractions or the like when you're on the john

No distractions? The disgusting stench of your severely-overweight coworkers digestive malfunctions isn't a distraction? Did you try to launch fireworks out of your nose as a child?

Re:Another reason not to work for Google.

[Thexare Blademoon]

Dare I ask about the first time?

The married cult (or maybe not....)

[Anonymous Coward]

"...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.

Re:Huh? Wha?

[Anonymous Coward]

None of the above. The real reason is that the toilet is a great place to wank =)

Re:Huh? Wha?

[loganrapp]

Or he's severely overweight with digestive malfunctions. You insensitive clod.

Re:The Google cult (or maybe not....)

[ukemike]

It was nice of them to float this idea, but in truth it was more of a sinker. I think it's important for a company to air out internal workings from time to time. I know they've been very regular with good products lately. You have to expect that from time to time they'll have a stinker. Actually I thought the article was a gas!

Re:Huh? Wha?

[Lord Ender]

I don't deny that I'm an insensitive clod (as many of my failed dates will attest(but seriously, get a real job girls(and a real degree(damn, i'm drunk right now, and i work in the morning(count those perens, you lisp bitches(i'm going to die alone :-())))))), but ridiculing the severely-obese could, possibly, motivate the fatties to stop killing themselves, thus saving decades of their lives.

If your job doesn't afford you enough time to exercise (=1hr/night), QUIT because your life is worth more than an extra 20k/year!!!!!

Re:Really not good for your health

[ArsenneLupin]

To clarify, I mean "calmly wait outside the john".

I usually do that only if the stall is occupied... Hmm, come to think of it, there are other circumstances where I might do it to, but for 90% of the population those wouldn't apply ;-)

I go when I *need* to go, not just because the clock is at a certain time,

So you mean, there really are people (in the US, I suppose?) that only go because it's "going time", not because they "need"? Weird stuff!

Re:Another reason not to work for Google.

[ArsenneLupin]

The testing on the toilet stuff is taped to the wall above the urinals, and on the inside of the doors in the stalls.

You don't have to read it. It's just there.

And this also has the advantage that if you don't agree, you just need to aim a little bit higher...

Be afraid!

[chrism238]

I'm wary of any article using both 'toilet' and 'launch' in the same sentence.

Re:The Google cult (or maybe not....)

[WiseMuse]

I guess the optimum, then, is to give employees free soda and plenty of vacation time, 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.

We do this at my company, and it really doesn't work. People start to feel conflicted inside. Then they need therapy.

Re:Another reason not to work for Google.

[geekoid]

heh. It's funny when written that way.
Comedy is art. And I am a comic in much the same way that a guy frames a glass of urine is an artists.

Re:The road to hell is paved with good intentions

[Anonymous Coward]

First, they came for the defecators, but I didn't complain because...