Where are the brown M&Ms?

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what value would you put on a bowl of M&Ms?

An article in this month's Fast Company tells us about how Van Halen used to have a clause, buried deep in the contracts with concert venues, that stipulated that the venue would forfeit all costs if there were _ANY_ brown M&Ms backstage. At the time many people thought that clause 126 was simply the ultimate example of rock excess. In reality it was there for a very specific purpose.

The contracts were very, very, very detailed and a successful concert meant that everything had to be in place and working. The M&M clause was a simple, visual feedback indicator that showed whether the organiser had actually read, and fulfilled, the contract. If there were brown M&Ms backstage then that would be a tell tale sign that a venue had not fully read the contract. The group would make sure that a thorough examination of the venue was carried out. Invariably they would find a major problem that could have derailed the concert.

You don't always need thick, verbose, progress reports to know if things are on track. Often, all you really need, is a simple, visual indicator of potential trouble.