Ryan is #5 on my Business of Software top five speakers, and the first to be reviewed.
Ryan reminds me of a gentle Jason Fried. His outlook on life and software is very similar to Fried’s, except he throws in words like love and treats his customers like gods. Ryan had a lot of great things to say, some quite obvious but good hear. Here are a few highlights from my perspective.
Be a passionate leader. Obvious right? Yes but Ryan backed it up with a couple great examples of things passionate leaders do. Be opinionated and blog about it. Opinions mean you believe in something, and that will be seen by your employees. Taking those opinions and blogging about them creates thought leadership for your team and the outside world.
Love your customers. I think we do a pretty good job at Rackspace and Carson nailed two key attitudes that help make this happen. Never speak disrespectfully of a customer. How many times have you heard a developer say something like That customer asked for what? That’s stupid. While their idea may not align with your direction, it is a real issue for a customer. Understanding that helps you understand your customers better. Also, use your product everyday. Most developers have no idea how much of a pain their app is to use. Using it everyday helps break this wall down. Make a developer go through the signup process or create a new account have them set it up. It will show some interesting insights.
Treat your team like royalty. This is the point of the talk where Carson and Joel held hands for a little bit (that or I need new glasses). It is obvious, but it also isn’t easy. It is good to be reminded that everything begins with your employees. Having great employees is one of the key parts to having a great company.
Invest in good design. and Be more creative than you need to be were two key points that go really well together. This is that extra 10% that doesn’t need to be done, but get’s all the attention. Do things that are a little crazy, a little out there, a little more beautiful than it needs to be, and get great publicity for them. At Carsonified, they take a week and just do something creative every now and again (I forget how often he said). All too often, team’s get stuck in the trenches and don’t get a chance to do something creative. Give them that chance, you will be amazed.
Other key points were Give back to your community, Build kick ass products, and Get good at publicity all of which I agree with.
It is all really summed up by Don’t regret not doing what you had to do to make your company remarkable. Hopefully Neil will be able to post Ryan’s talk soon so that you all can view it.
