The Bus Factor

Am I the only one who thought it was odd that anytime a prediction was made in the workplace regarding the cause for someone unexpectedly kicking the bucket, it would always be that they were hit by a bus (eg. "It is imperative that you are trained on this procedure, just in case I walk out of my house and get hit by a bus tomorrow")?

Well, I am not ashamed to admit that I thought it was odd. In fact, I thought about it so much that I looked it up on Wikipedia!

In software development, a software project's bus factor is an irreverent measurement of concentration of information in a single person, or very few people. The bus factor is the total number of key developers who would if incapacitated, as by getting hit by a bus, send the project into such disarray that it would not be able to proceed.

Getting hit by a bus could take many different forms. This could be a person taking a new job, having a baby, changing their lifestyle or life status: the impact would have the same effect.

Who knew? I know I know...YOU did.