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I replaced a broken kitchen cabinet hinge this weekend, a small triumph for a not-exactly-DIY guy. I bought the hinge after some misstarts that included having it sent to the wrong Home Depot store. (User error; don’t ask.) Then I used the store’s curbside pickup option, which a bot texted to me when my order was ready. It was an outstanding experience all around—except for my inability to phone customer service to have the delivery redirected in the first place—and I was happy to tell Home Depot that when they emailed me a survey before I returned home.
At the end of the survey, “powered” by the SAP unit Qualtrics, was a simple question: “What is the likelihood of you recommending Home Depot’s In-Store Pickup service to a friend or colleague?” I rated the experience a 10 out of 10.
This makes me, as I know from reading Geoff Colvin’s enlightening feature story in the current issue of Fortune, a “promoter,” according to a metric developed nearly two decades ago by a Bain consultant. It is called the Net Promoter Score, or NPS, and it is one of the most important tools in business.
I was a skeptic when I first learned about NPS. It felt too simple and too easily gamed. I learned from Colvin’s article that both instincts are valid. The tool is simple, and really ought to be only part of a surveying methodology—which is just how Home Depot used it with me. NPS also is susceptible to manipulation, like the car seller who pleads for a good score to keep her or his family well fed.
But simple tools used correctly are powerful. NPS gives providers of goods or services a solid directional understanding of customer satisfaction. It also is a landmark example of an inventor sharing intellectual property as a means of getting its product out into the world rather than hoarding it. Though Bain has an NPS practice, it lets anyone use the tool, much the same way Google cleverly provided Android mobile software for anyone to build phones—and to drive up mobile Internet usage, a benefit to Google ads. Bain’s innovation gained tremendous validation by having the rest of the world use it.
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QUICKLY: The California ballot initiative that would exempt Uber, Lyft, Doordash and other contractor-drivers from a law that would classify them as employees has qualified for the November election … The New Yorker has weighed in on homelessness in San Francisco, a theme I wrote about in February; it’s still a problem … Have you wondered how and why ExxonMobil has fare so poorly in recent years? I have. Bloomberg BusinessWeek explains it well here.
Adam Lashinsky
This edition of Data Sheet was curated by Aaron Pressman.
NEWSWORTHY
Missed it by that much. While SpaceX's first human launch into orbit is coming up tomorrow, Virgin Orbit failed its small satellite demonstration on Monday. Virgin's converted 747 flew the payload to 35,000 feet as planned but the rocket that was then supposed to carry the satellite to orbit suffered "an anomaly" and the mission was terminated. Meanwhile SpaceX CEO and provocateur-in-chief Elon Musk talked to Bloomberg about the SpaceX launch and other topics. “Assuming it’s successful—I don’t want to seem presumptuous—then it will be an incredible moment for humanity,” Musk said. Also on the Musk beat, the CEO and artist Grimes changed their baby's name to include Roman numerals instead of the number 12, possibly to comply with California law.
Cheaper by the dozen. Most of the new crop of 5G phones cost $1,000 or more, in part because of the high cost of 5G modem chips. That should change soon. Samsung announced a new low cost 5G chipset called the Exynos 880, which debuted in a phone from Vivo that went on sale in China this week for under $300.
What could possibly go wrong? After complaining about bias online, President Trump may do something about it. The administration is considering establishing a new commission or tasking an existing agency like the FCC to address “left-wing bias in the tech world," a White House official tells the Wall Street Journal.
Someone left a cake out in the rain. Private equity firm Advent International is dropping its planned $2 billion acquisition of cybersecurity firm Forescout Technologies, but Forescout is suing to try to force its buyer to complete the deal. Advent says Forescout suffered an "adverse material event" as its finances declined during the pandemic.
I want a goose and I want it now, daddy. Sorry summer shopper, Amazon's annual Prime day sale is likely to be pushed back from its usual July occurrence to sometime in September.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Is the Internet destroying media or enhancing it? New York Times columnist Ben Smith argues both in a piece about new services to monetize individual newsletters and other digital content.
Is this good news? The rise of these new companies could further shake our faltering institutions, splinter our fragmented media and cement celebrity culture. Or they could pay for a new wave of powerful independent voices and offer steady work for people doing valuable work — like journalists covering narrow, important bits of the world — who don’t have another source of income. Like the whole collision of the internet and media, it will doubtless be some of both.
ON THE MOVE
Speaking of space companies, space startup Relativity Space hired Zach Dunn, who was senior vice president of production and launch at SpaceX, as its vice president of factory development...The head of Intel's connectivity group and the former CEO of Barefoot Networks, Craig Barratt, has left the company to pursue an as-yet undisclosed other opportunity...VC firm Section 32 hired Sarah Larson, former chief HR officer at Third Rock Ventures, as its new chief people officer and Google alum Alice Cheung as head of talent.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
What it’s like to fly with new pandemic guidelines: Heightened anxiety and not enough masks By Jake Meth
What do workers fear most about going back to the office? Each other By David Z. Morris
Goodboy’s data-driven approach to pet health care By Rachel King
Work from home, get a $1,000 bonus. The tech industry’s new perk By Robert Hackett
The Coronavirus Economy: A surge in demand for food delivery has changed how this DoorDash courier works By Danielle Abril
VPN demand in Hong Kong reveals a new fear: China weaponizing the Internet By Grady Mcgregor
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BEFORE YOU GO
How does that line from Ghostbusters go? Cats and dogs sleeping together? Well, always-carrying-a-big-bag-of-books Bill Gates is out with some recommendations for what to watch on TV. He's enjoying A Million Little Things, This Is Us, and Ozark. He's also, it turns out, a big fan of one of my favorite Robert Redford movies, Spy Game. Worth a watch.
Aaron Pressman