Phil's $.02

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently.  They’re not fond of rules. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them – because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.  Because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

 -Think Different, Apple

Chris Lacy-Hulbert, Betfair’s Head of Sports Technology reminds us that “cool” just isn’t good enough for mainstream web sites.  Says, Chris:

First of all, the customer expects the website to work. Pure and simple. When a user visits your homepage, or logs into your application, they do not expect to see a sign on the door saying ‘we are undergoing maintenance – why not try one of our competitors’. If your website is frequently unavailable, or doesn’t meet the basic needs of its intended purpose, then you have ‘bottom of the pyramid’ problems which you need to resolve. You simply do not have the luxury of dreaming up new bells and sprinkles.

Check out Chris’ full post on Betfair’s Hierarchy of Website Needs.

In March, I cross-posted Rodney Barlow’s article about the Fire Chief role on an Agile team.  In his article, Rod told us:

• Teams can have their cake and eat it too: Responding to problems without killing yield
• Removing the “Fire Chief” from a team’s capacity can increase velocity and improve quality
• A culture of passion and ownership can make an otherwise tough role coveted and fun
• Practical steps for creating an effective Fire Chief on your team

Twitter post from @uclajug inquiring about the yield of the Fire Chief role

Rod has posted a case study (“Fire Chief Role Yields Results”) on the real results of the Fire Chief role at Shopzilla.  The proof seems to be in the numbers.  Since the inception of the Fire Chief:

• The team’s average completion rate has gone up by 48%
• Their “worst” iteration improved more than 300%

Nice job Inventory