Brian On Software

Whenever I can’t get myself too tired to go to sleep, or I’m on the bus commuting to work or to a client, or plain simply have an hour or two open in my schedule, I often fill it up watching a few talks online.  Though I’m passionate about software development and technology in general, I don’t always focus entirely on it, as it isn’t very fulfilling for the imaginative mind.  Recently, I’ve listened to some great talks about technologists speaking about starting online businesses, marketing, life, faith, etc., which really pump me up to a level that makes me thankful to live, to dream and to achieve what I value most in life.  I’ll start making a series out of this one, as I believe it can be as helpful and motivating to you, as it is for me.  That being said, here are the first three talks I recommend you to watch this week:

1. David Heinemeier Hansson on The Secret To Making Money Online (less than 30 minutes)

In this talk given in 2008, David Heinemeier, the creator of the Ruby on Rails framework and partner at 37Signals, gives a very creative and down-to-earth talk on how to create a profitable startup company.

2. Guy Kawasaki on The Art of Innovation (less than 60 minutes)

This is the first time I heard Guy Kawasaki speak.  This guy is a one of my “online heroes”.  He’s smart, he’s funny, and he speaks from experience.  In this talk, Guy talks about innovation about products, services and marketing.  He shares his experience from his work at Apple to now as a venture capitalist.  You’ll also learn about the 10-20-30 rule that can increase your chances in not only getting fund for your business, but most importantly, getting your point across.

3. Joel Spolsky on What Makes a Great Software (less than 60 minutes)

This is a talk that Joel Spolsky, founder of Fogcreek Software, gave as a keynote at RailsConf 2008, where he shares his valuable insight in what really makes a great software, so much so that we can actually qualify the software as great.  His talk is fantastic: it’s entertaining, it’s focused and it’s without a doubt an eye-opener for software developers to watch out some common pitfalls that can make your software not being adopted at all by potential users.