If you were walking along on patrol with your shotgun carried at a relaxed port arms position, and an enemy popped up at close quarters, firing from the hip would be substantially faster than bringing the weapon up to your shoulder, aiming, and then firing.
Another situation that might call for firing from the hip would be a contest between gunslingers in the Wild West, since again you would save several microseconds by not bringing the pistol up to chest level.
So, while there are circumstances where firing from the hip might make sense, generally speaking I agree with the original author: firing from the hip is mostly for the movies.