I work for a company that works for a company that works for a company.
We have clients that are clients of clients, and may be direct clients in some other aspect.
We host services for these entities.
That is all fine until they don't pay us.

When they don't pay us, there are multiple rounds of contacting someone who will contact someone who will contact someone. Someday.

Sometimes, someday does not arrive.
At that point, we conduct the Scream Test.

The essence of the Scream Test is:

  • This thing is theoretically not needed.
  • Let's turn it off.
  • And see who screams?

We shut down some stuff today. Waiting on the cacophony...

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[–] 11 points 2 months ago (5 children)

Is the official name for this "the scream test"?

I do this in lots of jobs; I tend to come in on cleanup jobs after gross incompetence, sometimes for many years. In addition to fixing problems, I have to help companies learn what should be happening and realign them to normal operating practices. Stopping pointless, worthless, outdated and redundant practices are something I do, and sometimes I apply the method above, though with many fewer degrees of separation than you have to those who may be affected. I find cutting pointless stuff to be one of the best ways to focus energy on things that do matter, get people to a better place and sometimes even save money doing it.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    In Dutch its called the beep system. If something is shut down, we wait for the beeping to start, be it a different system or a person.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago

    5 points for approachable naming!

    My self-hosted YouTube channel with flames on the intro and intense guitar riffs will go with the Murican "scream test" with a Scream-O-Meter.com site link; my NYT best seller for pragmatic business strategy will be dubbed "the beep test" and have soft cream and pastel coloring with a demure typeface and wine pairing list on the inside back cover.

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