Communicating build status better with Jenkins and the Build Monitor plugin

If you’re doing continuous integration chances are that you also care about your team understanding the current state of your project. Maybe you use a lava lamp or some other fancy device to visualise whether your builds are red or green. Or perhaps you’ve got my little Build Monitor plugin installed on your Jenkins box and displayed on some shared screen for your team to see?

Most visual extreme feedback devices use similar representation of the build status – the well-known RAG rating used in a traffic light system. Now, what does this RAG rating mean and how will it be interpreted by your team? Yes, I know that you understand how the traffic lights work, but bear with me for just a moment and maybe this short article will help you to avoid the bad case of rotting builds.

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