Today was day 2 of Business of Software 2011, aka, #BoS2011. Checkout my notes on day 1 if you haven’t done that yet.

Beautiful day in Boston Seaport area

Full room at #BoS2011

Again good speakers and interesting topics, but again nothing really new for those who follow product management, agile software development and startup related feeds.

I guess the good thing of attending BoS is not exactly the content, that you can get through the net. It’s the opportunity to meet in person lots of people from the software industry and exchange experiences and opinions.

One thing I noticed is that there are many people attending BoS who are from the old software model industry, the one based on licenses and on-premise installation. Good to see they are at BoS looking to understand that software is moving into hosted based subscription model. 🙂

Below are some tweets and references. And again from the number of tweets it’s easy to spot the talks that brought me more new stuff. 😛

Patrick McKenzie

• Advice from @patio11 at #BoS2011: don’t make desktop software.
• RT @PaulKennyOL: A culture of testing is better than a culture of ask the boss Patrick McKenzie #BoS2011
• Everyone ran your software for the first time. 30-40% second time users is common. First impressions are critical. #BoS2011
• The last 5 man-years of development isn’t visible in the first 3 seconds. (So A/B test the headline.)
• A/B testing often tells us things we don’t want to hear, like the design isn’t helping.
• Your 100-man-years of engineering isn’t as important as wordsmithing your site’s headline copy @patio11 #bos2011
• Systematic A/B testing prints money. @patio11 at #BoS2011.
• Most common outcome of A/B testing: no significant change. @patio11 at #BoS2011
• Did hiding extraneous settings behind “advanced” link improve conversions? Yes, by 16% #BoS2011
• Simplify to improve conversion rates. Make advanced config optional. @patio11 at #BoS2011
• Shorter is probably better in a web sales funnel. @patio11 at #BoS2011
• “There are 30 words of Japanese that have made it into English.. 15 of them are meteorological events that can kill you” ~ @patio11 #BoS2011
• @patio11 #BoS2011 Engineers see marketing as witchcraft… LOL
• Math and Science always work. @patio11 at #BoS2011

You can find more at Product Principles blog: Engineering Your Marketing Outcomes

Patrick McKenzie (@patio11)

Laura Fitton

• To find time for social media, find a problem you’re already solving another way and figure out how to solve it via social media. #BoS2011
• “You don’t get a prize for getting the most followers or friends. You get a prize for growing the business.” ~@pistachio #BoS2011
• “If you’re not blogging about your product or service you’re throwing money away” @pistachio at #BoS2011
• Cool – the underwear gnomes cartoon. youtu.be/TBiSI6OdqvA #BoS2011
• Get found. Convert. Measure what matters. @pistachio at #BoS2011.
• And repeat! RT @JocaTorres: Listen. Learn. Care. Serve. @pistachio at #BoS2011.
• Listen. Learn. Care. Serve. @pistachio at #BoS2011.
• Don’t tweet the title. Extract useful info from the article and then tweet. @pistachio at #BoS2011.
• We are moving from “one to many” to “any to many”. Anyone can be the root of a big message. ~@pistachio #BoS2011
• Two word secret of social media – Be useful. @pistachio at #BoS2011

You can find more at Product Principles blog: Business of Social – What B2B and B2C Software Companies Need to Know About Social Media

Laura Fitton (@pistachio)

Josh Linkner

• RT @theospears: Brainstorming while pretending to be someone else frees you up to be creative ~@JoshLinker #BoS2011
• RoleStorming as an option to BrainStorming. @joshlinkner at #BoS2011.
• “Watch out for group-think. Group-think is that poisonous thinking that waters down your best ideas.” via @joshlinkner at #BoS2011
• Mistakes are the portals to discovery ~@joshlinkner #BoS2011
• Playing it safe is the riskier movement possible. From failure you learn. From success not so much. @joshlinkner at #BoS2011.
• The five whys – Louis CK – hilarious youtu.be/4u2ZsoYWwJA #BoS2011
• Because things that aren’t just can’t be. Ask “why?” to see where you can get. @joshlinkner at #BoS2011.
• Being creative? RT @FastFedora: Why stop at standing desks? Practicing standing conferences. Join me at the back of the room. #BoS2011
• Why? What if? Why not? – 3 qns to foster creativity #Bos2011
• Metaphor for business shifts Symphony orchestra with conductor => Jazz where NOT taking risks is frowned upon. #BoS2011
• Creativity is 85% learned behavior. @joshlinkner at #BoS2011.
• Great metaphor for decline in creativity in today’s society by @joshlinkner at #BoS2011 – Lego toys. From fun to following instructions
• I disagree that there’s a creativity crisis. Difficult times foster creativity, hence the huge startup and entrepeneurial movement. #BoS2011
• When your head is up you notice things. @JoshLinkner at #BoS2011.
• Josh Linkner livestreaming at #BoS2011 Encyclopedia Britannica was Google for 219 years before Google bit.ly/eQRD5g

You can find more at Product Principles blog: Unleashing Creativity

Josh Linkner (@JoshLinkner)

Checkout this funny video about asking why. I purposely set the video to start at 6m20s so you can jump directly to the why joke:

Rory Sutherland

• The “IBM at terminal 5” video presented by Rory Sutherland at #BoS2011: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F1NVxmsa9I
• “All models are wrong, but some of them are useful.” #bos2011
• R. Sutherland “In most cases we act and then just post-rationalize our decisions” #BoS2011
• Rory Sutherland (wonderful speaker): “If your restaurant has the slight smell of sewage around it–don’t try to improve the food.” #bos2011
• “Absorbing information contradicting our prejudices registers in the same part of the brain where we feel pain” via @rorysutherland #BoS2011
• RT @dharmesh @rorysutherland “people aren’t aware of their own heuristics. They will derive to rationalize they’re maximizers. ” #BoS2011
• Rory Sutherland explains the importance of communicating with the “lizard’s brain” at #BoS2011
• Videoconferencing shd have been positioned differently. instead of poor man’s airplane it she have been “rich man’s telephone call” #Bos2011
• Don’t end up as the cheap inferior substitute for something else. #BoS2011
• Our perception of everything (including value), is “relativistic” (sic) and contextual. #Bos2011 Rory Sutherland
• R. Sutherland “people aren’t aware of their own heuristics.” #BoS2011 they will derive to rationalize they’re maximizers
• Problem with market research: people don’t behave as usual in a market research. #BoS2011
• The default option is “do nothing”. Rory Sutherland at #BoS2011.
• People look for things that satisfices than maximizes. If not, why people go to McDonalds? Rory Sutherland at #BoS2011.
• The here and now really matters to our lizard brains. Rory Sutherland at #BoS2011.
• Praxeology – Austrian term for human behavior and decision-making. @RorySutherland at #BoS2011
• Break tasks into sub tasks to increase probability of completion. #chunking explained by Rory Sutherland at #BoS2011.
• “What’s bad about waiting for a train isn’t waiting. It’s uncertainty.” #BoS2011
• “Creativity is policed by rationality, but rationality goes unpoliced.” Rory Sutherland is a trip. #BoS2011
• If you think creativity is expensive, you should try logic. #BoS2011

You can find more at Product Principles blog: Praxeology – Lessons from a Lost Science

Rory Sutherland (@RorySutherland)

Checkout the IBM’s Wimbledon Lotus T5 campaign presented by Rory at the end of his talk:

Lightning Talks

• Lightning Talks really exceptional. Well done @coreyreid @kjtreier @justingoeres @patrickfoley @tylerrooney #BoS2011
• Congrats @JustinGoeres! “@JocaTorres: Justin Goeres won the Lightning Talk contest at #BoS2011.

Justin Goeres (@JustinGoeres)

Michael McDerment

• “I think you should be developing benefits, not features.” @mikemcderment at #BoS2011.
• Pristine code without customers is a pyrrhic victory. @MikeMcDerment #BoS2011 #prodmgmt
• Name tiers based on customer type? (funny/cute names vs descriptive) Lost a million dollars. Clever names won. @mikemcderment #BoS2011
• Video convert 20% LESS than screenshots as demo tools. @mikemcderment at #BoS2011.
• Slide after slid of exponential product growth curves. Lesson: launch early. #BoS2011
• I guess you meant 2004? RT @dharmesh: Freshbooks has grown to over 3.5 million users since starting in 2044. #BoS2011

You can find more at Product Principles blog: A Litany of Product Management Mistakes at FreshBooks

Michael McDerment (@MikeMcDerment)

Peldi interviews John Nese from Soda Pop Stop

First, you need to watch this video:

• If you quit, you defeat yourself! John Nese #BoS2011
• It’s very easy to make decisions when you are broke. John Nese at #BoS2011.
• John Neese – a man who loves what he does is inspiring at #bos2011 – please support sodapopstop.com
• John Nese is a fantastic example of gentle competition and democratization of decision on products (resisting statu quo) #BoS2011 #hatsoff
• I’m sitting at a software conference listening to John Nese talking about craft sodas sodapopstop.com @bosconference #BoS2011 #awesome
• RT @admarsenal #bos2011 @Balsmiq to John Nese at sodapopstop.com. Question: What kind of metrics do you collect? Answer: What kind of what?
• Peldi: “You’re the CEO”, John Nese: “So, that’s just three letters!” #BoS2011
• We should not be creating jobs. We should be creating wealth. John Nese at #BoS2011.
• +1 RT @AriH: Conversation with the guy from the Soda Pop Shop is putting a smile on my face. #BoS2011
• John Nees thinks people need to pay their dues – no starting at the top, you need to understand it through experience at all levels #BoS2011
• Don’t be afraid to fail cos you are going to do well – John Nese @ SodaPopStop #bos2011
• John Nese summarizes Cincinnatus bit.ly/vXbUSY “You have to do what you have to do” #BoS2011
• I never work. I go there everyday and play! John Nese at #BoS2011
• RT @mitmads Thanks John Nese for your advice “You own your shelf space” #BoS2011
• I love the contagious enthusiasm of this guy when he talks about artisanal soda pops. Great to see people who love life. #bos2011
• RT @MichaelNozbe Fantastic testimonial by John Nese of SodaPopStop. Amazing story 🙂 #BoS2011 instagr.am/p/RchP8/
• The biz world needs more people like John Nees. #BoS2011

You can find more at Product Principles blog: An Interview with John Nese

Peldi and John Nese