Back at WordCamp Miami, I had dinner with my new friend Topher, where we shared some great food and conversation.

In typical podcaster fashion I asked, “Who should I interview next?”

Topher said that I HAVE to talk to Frankie, lead on the WP-Stream plugin.  Having just found out about the plugin and really loving the power and simplicity it delivers, I had to find out how this product was built.

Get your pen and paper ready, in today’s episode, Frankie will teach us all about building a successful product from the ground up. Enjoy!

Interview with Frankie Jarrett

Frankie Jarrett is the Head of WordPress product for X-Team, the company behind the WP-Stream plugin.

(At X-team)We are not afraid to offer the best solution for client-even when it’s not WordPress.

Applications and markets seem to be constantly expanding for X-Team’s project WP-Stream. WP-Stream is not even available for every website powered by WordPress. The plugin is free and available in the WordPress repository, but you must have PHP 5.3 running in order to use WP-Stream. Frankie describes why his team decided to create the product with requirements that are higher than what is normally needed for a WordPress installation and why you should be delighted when a plugin updates daily.

don’t be afraid if things are broken

Frankie has established Churchthemes.net, a specialty theme shop focused around his personal passion. In turn, he gives back to the community related to the market for his themes. 3 years old. Success is driven by really understanding the market. Put your heart behind your work and share your motivation.

Listening options

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Watching options

Interview Contents:

(times correspond to video)

1:00 About Frankie Jarrett, Head of WordPress Product for X-Team

6:30 What was the need and how did the Stream idea move forward

7:20 Launching before Version 1.0 was “ready”

9:45 Use a daily release cycle to get regular feedback

14:30 Why should you launch a plugin using WordPress.org?

27:00 Frankie’s Entrepreneurial spark shines through his work at Churchthemes.net

33:00 Backwards compatibility-why you need PHP 5.3 to use Stream

36:00 Innovations and opportunities with WordPress and WP-Stream. Use audit trail as customer service tool.

41:30 Using GitHub for customer support

Put EVERYTHING in GitHub

Get in touch with Frankie Jarrett

@fjarrett

frankiejarrett.com

Resources mentioned during the interview

WP-Stream

X-Team is a WordPress VIP featured partner

GitHub for collaboration

Churchthemes.net

JSON API

Namespacing

O2 WordPress plugin for internal saving high level ideas