Galvanized is definitely the most positive way to read into it. This wasn't a fun project by the developers. This was for the executives who were torturing the developers like cats do mice. One smart developer put a ball of yarn out to keep the cats busy long enough to get the cheese.

This was a hack for their crappy executive problem. Exactly what you can avoid on your own projects. I totally agree side projects can be a good for motivation, but it's probably a bad sign if it's necessary to the life of the project.