Business of Software Conference 2008

This week I took some time to review Jason Fried’s (of 37signals fame) presentation at the Business of Software Conference (run by Joel Spolsky and Neil Davidson). Having just read Getting Real, I was looking forward to a condensed and revised presentation following up on these ideas.

The presentation covered some material from the book, as well as delving into a few other concepts. It took a few days to get through the hour long presentation, but was worth the watch.

Some of the information I picked up and will be thinking about:

• Keeping momentum – Projects always start off enthusiastically and taper off drastically as time goes on. Breaking projects into much smaller chunks (a couple of days to a week) so you can keep up momentum is beneficial.
• Vocabulary – Drop a few words from your vocabulary because they cause things to go wrong. Can’t, need, easy are a few examples. We “can’t” launch like this. Why not? Do you actually “need” to introduce this new feature? Is it really that important? Telling someone that something is “easy” is a no-no. Don’t describe other peoples work with this word (“Just add this for me, it’s easy”).
• Passive collaboration – Alone time is extremely important to getting things done. Anyone will tell you they are most productive early in the morning, or late at night when there is no interruptions. Find a 2 hour block, switch off communication and shut your door. Communicate passively (IM, Email) rather than face to face, or in meetings. Just because you have something you want to share, it may not be (and probably isn’t) more important than what the person you are interrupting was already in the middle of.
• Now and 10 years – When thinking about product features and design use this rule. What’s important now and still will be in 10 years (speed, ease of use). Think about improving areas that will still be relevant in 10 years.
• Lower end of market – Most mainstream established products are too difficult for a new user to use well. Companies like Microsoft and Intuit have had their products out there for decades and it’s hard to compete with that. They keep adding new features so people will upgrade each year. They used to fill a simple need, but have moved past that and cram anything and everything into their applications. Move your product into that empty space. Solve someone’s need and solve it well.
• Teach/share – Don’t horde your thoughts and ideas. People and companies who share, flourish. Blog, release code, write about what you are doing. If you do this, people will remember you.
• Solve simple problems – Everyone wants to be the one who solves the hard problem. Give up on hard problems. There’s far too many simple problems that need solving and solving well.
• Curate your product – Treat your product like a museum. Every feature request, every change you make, look at the bigger picture. A curator doesn’t add artwork to the museum just because someone wants them to. Make sure your product will remain intact.