Bad Monkey

I had a little fun in a meeting today.

We're evaluating a new Test Case Management System that our company is considering buying. It's a multiuser client/server system that catalogs, controls and tracks all of our software test cases.

So far, only one person (Jacob) has had access to the system as it was being evaluated, and today we had a kickoff meeting where Jacob demonstrated it to the rest of us, using the projector in the conference room. The plan was that, after the meeting, he would send us all an email with instructions on how to install and configure the client software, log in, and try it out on our own.

I had my laptop with me during the meeting, as most of us usually do. I surreptitiously found the client installer on the network, installed it, figured out how to configure the server address and TCP port based on some of the screens visible during his demonstration, found my login information, signed in, and started messing with it, adding and editing test cases.

My new test case was actually up on the projector screen for about five minutes before anyone noticed it. It had been showing up at the bottom of all the lists on the screen, saying: "HI JACOB! I'M IN YR MEETING ADDING YR TEST CASES!" No one saw it until he started demonstrating filters, at which point I made sure to add something to the test case that fit one of his filters. It popped up to the top of the list on the screen, and it immediately got the desired "all right, who's the wise guy" reaction.

I'm not sure if I should be proud or embarrassed that everyone immediately turned and looked straight at me...