The Future of Web Apps event was awesome. Ryan, Gill and Lisa were great hosts and everything was very, very well put together. Really top notch. Tom, Brian and I learned a ton of great stuff, on many levels, that we can not only pass along to our clients, but use internally as well.

Instead of going through my copious notes and giving you a detailed summary of everything that went on, I thought I’d cut through all that, pull a Guy Kawasaki and give you a top 10 list. Well, that and a few extra tidbits.

10 Things From The Future of web Apps

1. Clear communication is key. This came up multiple times. The importance of clear communication in everything you do is something that should be talked about more as it’s important on so many levels. Clear communication (or the lack thereof) with your clients, your co-workers, your users, etc. can make or break you.
2. Content Management is still very broken. More on this later. We were hoping we’d come across someone who’d have solved our problems, but no.
3. People-centered design was a hot topic. Just about everyone had something about aligning your product or application to your users.
4. Starting small is a good idea. There was lots of emphasis on keeping it simple, nailing the important stuff and worrying about expanding or adding features down the road.
5. “Visual” design is very important. Jeff Veen spoke at length about how important it is to build trust by presenting something that looks and feels well designed. Many of the other speakers echoed this sentiment.
6. APIs are really great. Lots of talk about APIs and making your stuff play nice with others.
7. Passion. There was lots of inspirational talk about trusting your gut, not listening to nay-sayers and just taking a leap, making something work and giving everything your best shot. I love that stuff.
8. There is still lots of room for new community on the web. Even though it might feel a bit saturated, there’s opportunity there.
9. There are no “experts.” This was a theme that came up quite a bit. We’re all learning and there are many unanswered questions when it comes to just about every aspect of the web and where we’re going.
10. Look for “painkillers.” The metaphor of finding a painkiller (something that alleveates someone’s pain) came up a bit and I really like that. The idea is to figure out pain points and ways to eliminate them.

A few unanswered questions

• Django or Rails? Heh, just kidding. Although we did hope to chat some people up about it and did ask lots of questions about development resources. While we’ve not made a decision on that front, we did get some great advice on choosing a developer (who will then dictate the technology) to help us out. Turns out it’s about people and we of all people should know that.
• Where does Mobile fit in? While most of the presenters mentioned mobile and there was a bit of hallway talk about it, it was surprising how little it was brought up. Brian and I were expected much more mobile talk. Well, we’ve got some things brewing along those lines and maybe (hint, hint) Brian could come on board for next year’s event to share.

A few observations

• The wifi was awful. It really drove everyone nuts.
• Evan Williams has some kick ass Adidas.
• Best slides? Tom Coates.
• Matt Mullenweg is pretty funny. Kind of a mini-Veen. His talk was good too.
• I was surprised at the lack of diversity, it was almost all high-five’n white guys.

A+

Overall I’d give the event a solid A+. With the exception of the wifi (which wasn’t all that big a deal to me personally) it was just about perfect and you can bet I’ll be around next time.

Comment on this entry...

1. Jeff Croft Sept. 17th, 2006 at 5:46 p.m.

   > The wifi was awful. It really drove everyone nuts.

   Has there ever been a geek conference where this wasn’t the case? Seriously, get it together conference venues! Damn!

   I sooo wish I could have been there. Thanks for the recap, Keith. :)

2. Roy Jacobsen Sept. 18th, 2006 at 3:41 a.m.

   <blockquote>The metaphor of finding a painkiller (something that elevates someone’s pain) came up a bit and I really like that.</blockquote>

   I think you mean “something that <em>alleviates</em> someone’s pain.” If you <em>elevate</em> someone’s pain, you are “increasing the amplitude, intensity, or volume of” their pain. Not a good thing.

   “Clear communication” could be on just about every conference’s Top Ten list, couldn’t it.

3. C. Enrique Ortiz Sept. 18th, 2006 at 6:05 a.m.

   Thanks for sharing this… Interesting that mobility per-se was a topic of not much discussion… Specially in a future’s web apps conference. Mobility is going to be a huge part of the future web.

   ceo

4. Jordan Arentsen Sept. 18th, 2006 at 6:36 a.m.

   I’d be interested to hear what they said concerning what to look for in a developer. Because, as I am one, I’m curious what I should be doing. hehe.

5. Keith Sept. 18th, 2006 at 7:33 a.m.

   Roy - Well, that was an ironic and unfortunate mistake. Thanks for letting me know.

6. Sean Sept. 18th, 2006 at 9:20 a.m.

   One of the things I found interesting was the idea of creating “passion centric” communities when considering adding social aspects to a particular web app. As Mike said in his talk, every marketing director wants to be the “MySpace of [insert insane idea here]”.
   

   But the problem with MySpace is that it’s too generic, too broad, and may be a one-hit wonder. Perhaps we should be more interested in the dogster/catster model; we should build software that enables and encourages a specific passion instead of trying to be all things to all people.

   And, as we learned, cats + dogs = bizank.

7. Kelly Sept. 18th, 2006 at 10:42 a.m.

   Thanks for this summary. I was SICK because I could not attend - hosting a “branding” board meeting with many folks flying into town. Next year - with blessings - would love to engage in a more forward-thinking mobile discussion with Brian and at least attend the event! - Kelly

8. Roy Jacobsen Sept. 18th, 2006 at 6:50 p.m.

   Keith, You’re welcome. It’s a completely understandable mistake. I actually got a good chuckle from it; my own gaffes aren’t usually amusing in the malapropic sense.

   Thanks for posting your observations. I’m a word guy, not software or design, but many of the basic ideas carry across the boundaries. (Anyway, I’ve come to the conclusion that you can think of writing as designing with words, or software that runs on people.)

9. Ryan Carson Sept. 19th, 2006 at 11:36 a.m.

   Glad you enjoyed yourself Keith! We were honored to have the Blue Flavor team there :)

   BTW, can’t apologize enough about the wifi - sheesh.

10. Bryan Veloso Sept. 19th, 2006 at 4:31 p.m.

    Would have loved to make it up there. Hopefully the Carsons come back to the Bay Area sometime. :)

11. Matt Sept. 20th, 2006 at 4:31 p.m.

    Everyone is mini next to Veen. ;)

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