If you’re one of the countless people who have a job in an office that doesn’t have to do with sports and who tries to sneakily stream NCAA tournament games to watch March Madness, you are no doubt familiar with the boss button.
Since 2006, the window used to stream contests included a button that, when clicked, instantly switched the screen from the game you’re watching to something that’s supposed to look like actual work — a spreadsheet, your inbox and, in recent years, a PowerPoint-type deck. I can’t really find anyone who has said “the boss button saved my hide, thank goodness.” But it’s amusing running gag that continues to amuse (and it’s also been sponsored, per Recode, since 2009).
Here’s a look back at the evolution of the button for most of the years we could find:
2006 to 2009
BuzzFeed has a good summary — it started as an Excel-like spreadsheet and moved to a bar chart.
2010
Art from Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams in 2010 and a flow chart!
2012
Did our inboxes really look like that seven years ago?
2013
A bit more realistic, I guess.
2015
PowerPoint!
2016
2017
2018
This guy called it “genius.”
