iPod Touch + Remote + Airport Express = WIN

I posted a while back on how I thought the combination of iPod Touch, the Remote app and an Airport Express could end serve as a poor man's Sonos.

Finally got myself an Airport Express last week - and it is as good as I thought.

We have 2 macs at home - I can select either Mac as the source and can select a number of outputs to stream the song to.

How does it compete with the Sonos?

Cost - this is a hands down winner - $700 for a 32 G ipod Touch (you could pay less), $80 for a second hand 802.11 G airport express. Compared to $1500 + for a Sonos, this rocks. And you get an iPod.

Usability - Equivalent - compared to the Soundbridge I had earlier, Arlene can use this happily. That's a serious win.

Functionality - Sonos still on top with its ability to select different output zones, cue up songs (a very social feature) and a single database of tracks. Having said that, the volume control for the Remote app is a useful bonus.

It was the world's easiest sell to go in for another couple of Airport Express units. Next will be to file all the CDs away.

Funniest thing, Arlene spotting the flaw with not having a server capability in iTunes 'Even I think that's dumb'. Apple have to fix this soon. I'd probably pay for a version of the remote app that allowed streaming to different zones and the ability to cue up songs, even the Soundbridge had that.

And a nice touch - you can use the Remote app to enter in WiFi keys on Apple TV.

Start Up lessons and Agile Development

Really enjoying the DogMog blog at the moment - another thoughtful post today from Sarah on the process of selecting a developer, designer, methodology and requirements.

I posted about Agile Development a while back. Agile didn't work for that project IMHO- the lesson I learned from that is that both the business owner and the developer have to agree to and then commit to using Agile. From a business owners perspective that means ideally sitting with (if not working with) the actual developer (not their representative) daily. Without that its just waterfall under a different name. Enough said.

Where there's a will, there's a way

I used to think that line was a pretty trite comment, but I had cause to reflect on a couple of very different experiences of late that show the power of personal will, and the need to take personal risk to make change happen. It's really important if you want to create powerful customer experiences.

1. I went to our call centres the other day to listen to why customers are calling us (as opposed to contacting us in any other way - btw the reason they do is they want trusted advice from human beings. I'm sure there are other ways to do this that have the human touch but I digress). We had a customer call who wanted to cancel broadband - he wasn't using it. Craig (the rep) could have just gone through the motions and cancelled it but decided to drop his success rate on call metrics and take 10 seconds to look at the customer's overall bill. This guy was spending $350 a month - mainly on domestic and Australian calls. So Craig asks if he wants to look at other options and ends up selling a plan which will probably cut $150 a month off his bill. Customer is stoked and casually asks about mobile - Craig ends up selling him a phone sight unseen which will completely suit his needs. Customer is still paying less per month and now has a great mobile - all because Craig took the personal risk to engage in a conversation that the customer hadn't initiated.

2. I've been shopping around our user-centred design methods internally and talked to a number of senior General Managers. The value of what I was talking about was recognised immediately - however there was no will to implement. I can understand resources are tight, deadlines are near - we've all been there. A will to implement would find a way to get around that.

I had to reflect on the second experience - a normal uncontrolled reaction would be to say 'pack of muppets - they don't get it' but I've realised that I've got to have the will to back up what I believe in and find a way to make it stick. Which means persistence and probably an alternative approach. Thanks Craig from the Helpdesk in Hamilton - you've taught me a great lesson.