Automations for Rubber Duck Day events on Discord, developed using discord.py through community contributions.
See our user story board and active issues for ways to contribute, or join us on discord
Rubber Duck Debugging is a problem solving exercise whereby the individual explains the issue at hand, in simple terms, line by line -- to a rubber duck. In the interest of silo busting and the promotion of networking, we've revised this time-honored exercise to include an additional human participant.
Replacing the rubber duck with a human participant presents us with multiple opportunities not present in the original:
- exposes less-informed organization members to technical challenges facing the team.
- reinforces listening skills for the members playing the duck role.
- reinforces speaking and code comprehension skills for the debugging members.
- provides an opportunity for actual feedback after the debugging session.
During opt-in events, users may indicate their willingness to participate as rubber ducks. Throughout the event, any other member may choose to play the role of Debugger. When called upon by a debugging member, a rubber duck shall enter a voice conversation with them. During this time, the participants may agree on a time limit for the session. For the duration of this session, the member playing the role of the rubber duck is discouraged from responding with anything other than a quack. At the end of the session, the debugging member is encouraged to hear feedback the rubber duck may have.
During opt-out events, the mechanisms for opt-in events still exist, but a number of rubber ducks and debuggers are chosen from the membership throughout the event. Members chosen as debuggers are furnished with a generalized code snippet to explain, line-by-line, if they do not have an issue of their own to present to the rubber duck.