One of the most important aspects to an effective continuous integration setup is quick and obvious feedback. People have come up with lots of different red/green ‘traffic light’ monitors, from CruiseControl.NET’s CCTray to Lava Lamps. However, one team has taken the metaphor a bit further – an actual traffic light. Click here and scroll to item 12 for more detail.
I like the idea of a howling/screaming sound when the build is broken, it would save on the managers vocal cords, that would clearly get the attention of the staff (LOL)
One of our customers has reported doing same the same thing using Parabuild and X10
Delcom Engineering sells some small USB traffic lights that we’ve used before. Not quite so bright but seems pretty popular.
http://www.delcom-eng.com/products_USBTLamps.asp