I just learned the phrase "circus factor" ("If you or someone on your team ran away to join the circus, how stressful would it be for the rest of the team?") and I like it much better than the widely-used phrase "bus factor". https://mercedesbernard.com/speaking/minimize-circus-factor/

@jamey A couple jobs ago we started using "lottery factor" for the same reason, but I like "circus factor" even better because lotteries are icky and so is making assumptions about what people would do with money

@jamey At a job not so long ago, we used "sheep factor", because half of us were living in small villages where shepherds are still plentiful, and we had one person run away to start herding sheep. (He's still herding sheep, and is happier than ever.)

@jamey I like it, much less macabre

@algernon That's delightful! 😁

I like "vacation factor" myself. "If someone dropped everything and went on vacation immediately..."

@josh I do think it's important to specifically organize teams so that it's okay for team members to go on vacation. For example, one of my explicit reasons for setting up PR auto-assignment for Wasmtime was so that I could go on vacation. But the difference is that normally one is expected to come back from a vacation 😅

Sure. But also, I think it's appropriate to organize teams so that someone could go on vacation (or leave) on zero notice with no expectation of checking in, and the team should still function.

@josh I agree, that would certainly be a nice change compared to common practice!

@josh I hadn't read all the slides in the talk I linked yet and it turns out PTO is a major point there too:

When folks take PTO, actually let’s back up. Do people take PTO? Do they feel comfortable taking PTO? When they take PTO how much planning and prep needs to take place beforehand? How many meetings get scheduled on the calendar to take advantage of their time and knowledge sharing before they leave?

@rhiannonstone @jamey circuses are icky too, as they involve trapped animals :(

@vbabka @rhiannonstone @jamey not so much modern ones, at least where I live! I think the ones I see advertised are pretty much all human acrobatics (and dance, acting, etc.)