[quantumhobbit]

Not my direct manager but the tech lead.

This was a new team with an early standup which never happened on time because we would always roll in late. The scrum master had the 'great idea' to start a dollar jar. Whoever was late to standup had to put a dollar into the jar. None of us objected because other than the scrum master, tech lead, and manager we were all new to the company and didn't want to rock the boat.

This turned out to a huge problem for one of the engineers. She had to drop her kids off at a daycare that didn't open early enough, so she was late ever day. We mostly fell into line but she didn't have a choice. It wasn't the money, but the public shaming of having to go up and put the dollar in the jar. After a few weeks she was really stressing out about it because she was new no the job and wanted to make a good impression.

Well the tech lead saw this and sauntered into the office at 11 the next day. He flourished a twenty dollar bill and then announced so that the whole office could hear that he was pre-paying for the next month. He could do this because he was one of the most talented and senior engineers in the whole company. And unlike many talented people who toil in obscurity, upper management knew he was talented. The project wouldn't happen without him, or at least thats how management saw it. He was untouchable.

The dollar jar disappeared the next day. The woman who was afraid of losing her new job over a stupid tip jar would up staying and becoming one of the better and most reliable engineers at that company. Even if it took them a few more years to realize it.

[YayamiOmate]

Seems like an armwrestle workaround the issue. Good it got solved but it's poor managing if a star engineer needs to extort his authority to handle managerial problem... I wonder how much of it was display and how much a necessity.