"reduced the incidence of dropped reservations in two years to less than 1 percent from as high as 20 percent"
To which I say, "Why weren't you doing that in the first place?"
So in today's "Ready, Fire, Aim" world, we give kudos for fixing what never would have been broken if proper planning had been used.
The Travelocity example sounds like a case of outsourcing our responsibility until something goes wrong (and it will), then fixing it. Instead of saying "congratulations", maybe we should say "shame on you".
This is a somewhat obstinate and perhaps nonconsequential point, but as a public service announcement, could anyone who reads this please do their best to assure the title of their story is grammatical and spell-checked? If the 37signals article has the title right, then it's not hard to do a quick check or just copy and paste the title. It would help prevent the Digg/reddit sort of "degeneration," as while proper spelling and grammar may seem like a somewhat arbitrary and objectively unimportant matter, it does indicate if not intelligence, at least greater care for one's communications. When you post on Hacker News, it's like talking to hundreds of people at once. Perhaps it is a moot analogy, but would you give a speech to several hundred people without checking the pronunciation of new words? It's embarrassing for both you and the community.
Kind thanks!
EDIT: I now see the URL of the 37signals post betrays the fact the original title did in fact contain "who's". Of course it is not your fault then, but as I said, it would still show greater care if one checked something like that before posting.
To which I say, "Why weren't you doing that in the first place?"
So in today's "Ready, Fire, Aim" world, we give kudos for fixing what never would have been broken if proper planning had been used.
The Travelocity example sounds like a case of outsourcing our responsibility until something goes wrong (and it will), then fixing it. Instead of saying "congratulations", maybe we should say "shame on you".