SEED Conf. Part 3 (Jim Coudal)

January 21st, 2008

So we broke for quick lunch. We had sat with Matt Browne and Chris Abad from Integral Impressions. We then went a working lunch on architecture. I used to want to be an architect and have a father in-law that is a well known architect. So, I will save you and not go into detail about how much I loved this session as I am sure I might have been the only one in the building that loved it. I learned a ton about Mies and Rem

After this enlightenment Jim Coudal took the stage. What a great personality and stage presence. I could listen to Jim talk all day. He is just a fun guy. He showed this great video about being less than focused. The great thing is that he emphasized that it’s okay! You learn a lot in failure and success. Short attention spans are NOT necessarily bad. Use them to your advantage.

He mentioned that a good strategy is to fail a lot. Client work is a good way to develop your craft on someone else’s dime. When looking to do a product evaluate on three things…

• Can we make money?
• Can we be proud of it?
• Can we learn something new?

The items are not mutually exclusive. It is important to balance financial items and satisfaction. You have to constantly adjust to where you are at. It is okay to not know what you want.

The day wound down with a panel session of all presenters fielding questions. It largely had a lot to do with stealing. Jason voiced that it pisses him off when people steal 37 signals work and Carlos voiced that he feels similar to the RIAA in his views of protecting his work. Largely this whole conversation grossly turned me off as I am very liberal when it comes to copyright. I realize that these guys are largely talking about gross theft which I am against, but they portrayed it poorly.

I am sure there is tons that I missed as I feel so wordy just writing down a three part series. Overall, I enjoyed the conference and got a lot out of it.