Developing HospitalityDaryl L. L. Houston

Simon Ouderkirk

Simon Ouderkirk

Daryl L.L. Houston !

!

daryl.learnhouston.com!@dllh!

ouderkirk.co!@saouderkirk

• Distributed!• Small!• Product plus support!• Close-knit (messing up hurts)

Service & Hospitality

Hospitality

Service and Hospitality in Software Development

Software Restaurant

External and Internal

•Communication tools •Support tools

•A working product •Documentation •Maintenance and bug fixes

Example External Hospitality Failures

• Partial or missing i18n • Partial or failing responsiveness • Partial or missing accessibility • Confusing sign-up flow • Poor documentation • In our case, wp.com vs. wp.org

Example Internal Hospitality Failures

• Poor/slow search tools • Fragmented documentation • Fragmented bug tracking/response • Crummy UX for tools • Buggy internal tools • Failure to fix the external things,

resulting in more support interactions.

Case Study #1: Spam Referrers

Spam Referrers

Harmless, right?

Spam Referrers

• Referrers hidden from reports but not from counts.

• No user-managed way to view/delete blocks. • We thought we would be helping both users

and support staff. • We confused the former and hurt the latter.

Case Study #2: The Interim Editor

Case Study #2: The Interim Editor

Case Study #2: The Interim Editor

Case Study #2: The Interim Editor

• Big user outcry • Added Opt-Out • Can think of this as good

Service bailing out suboptimal Hospitality

WP.com Happiness Team

A Framework for Integrating Hospitality

into your Launch

• The Bigelow Window • Cures, not band-aids • Ownership of and support for crucial

things like testing (needs a champion!) • Consider opt-in beta testing for big

launches (also good for community)

Closing Remarks Q & A

Simon Ouderkirk

Daryl L.L. Houston !

!

daryl.learnhouston.com!@dllh!

ouderkirk.co!@saouderkirk