Simon Roberts

• Michael Mantler’s Concertos concert last night in Berlin with Nick Mason http://tinyurl.com/2hsr8n #
• Nick’s spot was at the end – a percussion concerto, which included riffs from PF’s Money #

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• Bluetooth stereo audio on Leopard is delayed (about 200 ms on my MacBook Pro) but easily compensated for when watching videos with VLC (f/g) #
• Changing course to dry up waterfall: http://tinyurl.com/27spud #
• At Moore and Mantler (Nick Mason drums) in Berlin #

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• Updating OS X apps to Leopard compatible versions #
• Parallels Internet access was dead after installing Leopard but is OK after installing latest Parallels beta #
• A2DP (bluetooth stereo) works in Leopard with my Jabra BT620s headphones. Some crackles and pops. Rough edges but basically working #
• Vodafone UMTS BB on Leopard: http://tinyurl.com/29jek9 #
• Eventually got my Vodafone UMTS Broadband ExpressCard to work on Leopard #

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• Landed in Berlin. 2 trains and a short walk and I’ll be home #
• At Blankenfelde – catching S2 train to LIchtenrade #
• Installed Leopard. So far my HSDPA card (UMTS broadband) doesn’t want to play nice #

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• About to start Sprint Planning. We’re going to try this timer: http://tinyurl.com/yvj2e6 #

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• Plentiful Leopard suppy at Saturn in Berlin’s Europa Centre. Managed to resist and wait for Monday #

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• I ordered Leopard from the German Apple Store when announced. The order status is showing expected delivery on Monday. I’m not impressed #

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• Shocked and sad to learn of the passing of the writer and broadcaster Alan Coren http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2694149.ece #
• This month we’ve lost Alan Coren and Ned Sherrin two stalwarts of quality UK broadcasting and both a big part of the soundtrack of my life. #
• On my way to Mirchi 1 in Berlin-Mitte to meet with some ex-colleagues #

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flow|state: Show mercy to keyboard users (yourself included) by setting the default keyboard focus In this post on flow|state the author explains the importance of setting the default keyboard focus in a web application – i.e. where text will appear if the user starts typing without clicking on a control or otherwise changing the focus. Some sites do set the focus appropriately (e.g. google search) but others seem to overlook this simple but important point (e.g. google reader, microsoft.com).

I’ve facilitated several agile projects where the customer or product owner has come up with a user story something like:

As a web site visitor
I want to start typing without having to change focus
so that I can get the results that I need as quickly as possible

This is usually simple to implement (unless you can’t use JavaScript) and provides an immediate reduction in aggravation for users. For some applications this can actually make a difference to the business case. For example, if call handling time for a large scale call centre application can be reduced by just a second, it can result in significant cost reductions over a year.

I encourage all product owners to consider whether there is room for such a feature in their product backlogs!

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Tags: userstories, web, agile, Scrum

• I’m really liking Flock 1.0 RC – the People Bar does a nice job of giving me an overview of Twitter, Flickr and Facebook #
• … and subjectively Flock is fast on my MacBook Pro #
• LIstening to Carmina Burana, Berliner Philharmoniker, Simon Rattle, iTunes+ – nice recording #
• Neil Young – Chrome Dreams and Chrome Dreams II http://tinyurl.com/242avw #

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