Motivational Tool
Well, I find things like this mildly amusing, so I'll share it, even though it may not be side-splittingly funny. Although I haven't mentioned it yet, I am a programmer. Several years ago I was on a team that was under a high amount pressure to deliver some product (web interface for a flux capacitor or somesuch). A few of us used to joke around about it a lot to ease the tension…okay, to ease the tension and because we're a bunch of cut ups that don't take anything too seriously. Standard stuff I suppose, we've all been there. We'd joke about management, layoffs, getting pink slips with our checks, about firings continuing until morale improves, having blamestorming meetings, etc.
It was during one of these sessions that the phrase blamestorming reminded me of the fictional sword Stormbringer. It just seems natural that you could have an artifact named Blamestormer. This artifact would be responsible for handing out blame, of course. The natural physical manifestation for this artifact would be a big finger–so you can point it at your victims. But wait! Such power can't come without a drawback. Blamestormer has to be cursed in true D&D fashion. (As a side note, since I'm a programmer that played D&D as a kid you can probably deduce that I was tapping some serious ass when I was a teenager.) I guess if I were fully working up the background, I'd have it discovered sticking out of some manager's ass. It could only be pulled out by the true heir of blah blah blah.
Ok. To recap. We've got a name (Blamestormer), a prop idea (giant pointing finger), and a set of rules (the curse). That's our design, time to implement.
Rules of Blamestormer:
1) Once drawn, Blamestormer must assign blame–even if it is to the wielder.
2) With each use the wielder becomes more obsessed with assigning blame.
3) Dealing out blame makes the wielder appear taller.
4) Store in a cool, dark place when not in use.
After a quick trip to Michael's for some supplies, I give you:
BLAMESTORMER (v1.0)
January 29th, 2006 at 6:26 pm
[...] This is probably one of the greatest failings of organizations of which I have been a part. I think it's essential to have a point person for any goal. Unfortunately, no one wants their ass in the fire when things go wrong. If that's the case, you probably have a company that engages in way too much CYA and blamestorming during a project. Accountability can be a good thing, but when people are held accountable for not meeting impossible goals with inadequate support / tools, then no one will want to be saddled with any kind of responsibility. And, if no one is willing to step up, nothing is going to get done. [...]