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Hah, I recall very well when this was posted. It was my first introduction to the bus factor[1], and I still refer to it from time to time.

Segfault.org had a lot of fun jokes, just look at the front page from that time[2] which includes some future-predicting ones like "Netscape 6 Special Edition To Feature Extra Ads"[3] (not Mozilla as such but).

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_factor

[2]: https://web.archive.org/web/20010616172138/http://segfault.o...

[3]: https://web.archive.org/web/20010619114515/http://segfault.o...



I was recently introduced to the “lottery factor” as a less morbid alternative. As in, if one of us won the lottery tomorrow and quit on the spot what would happen.


I can kinda see the point there, but in the lottery example there's at least a possibility of making contact at a later date.

The bus is irreversible and sudden.

I'd say the lottery example works for example with skills/knowledge. ("Do we have someone else who can do what that person was doing?")

While the Bus factor is very relevant for issues like infrastructure and access ("The only person who knew the important passphrase or credentials is now lying dead on the pavement.)


The difference between the lottery factor and your bus factor makes a decent proxy for how much people like working there.

If someone has a lottery factor equal total their bus factor, then you expect them to say “screw you” when asked for help, and you should probably work on that.




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