MMader's blog

5 Themes from Office 2.0

I spent Thursday and Friday at the Office 2.0 conference in San Francisco.

For those of you not familiar with the term "Office 2.0", you might be hard pressed to read and recite what's posted on Wikipedia - so here's my definition:

Office 2.0 - “collaborative online software used to accelerate, simplify, and improve the quality of communication and the execution of work.”

You can also opt for the definition I shared with my eight year old when she asked me about it on the way back from the airport:

Open and Close Fewer Doors

Had a morning coffee the other morning with Hugh Crean, CEO of Farecast.com.

Meeting up had been on our respective todo lists for a couple of months - a victim of getting bumped by Farecast's recent acquisition by Microsoft.

Coffee meetings are often hit or miss - and this one was a direct hit. Lively discussion, fresh ideas, multiple takeaways. During the course of the fifty minutes, we took a crack at describing each other's services.

Shifting Into Higher Gear - Smartsheet v2 Beta

Back in the spring of 2005 it didn’t exist. The killer app for team task management, work tracking, project collaboration, (insert your favorite term here), just did not exist. There were hundreds of companies that laid claim to some part of the challenge in markets both broad and narrow, but none could claim to be the Google of work tracking.

Version You (a.k.a. v2)

As I wrote in a recent CEO Message, we are approaching a major milestone - the Beta launch of Smartsheet v2. We’ve made numerous updates to the service since our initial launch in the fall of 2006 but unlike our previous releases, this endeavor encompasses a holistic review and update of the entire service.

So let’s get to the nuts and bolts of what makes this release different than most.

Twitteruption

I think Robert Scoble said it best. “Yesterday someone challenged me to ‘say something useful’ in Twitter. Has anyone said anything useful in Twitter?”

Will Twitter be crowned the next victor in the messaging category, joining the ranks of e-mail, IM, and RSS? For all its coolness, ease of use, plugged in feeling it delivers - I sure as hell hope not.

iPhone's Challenge. Software's Opportunity.

Heavyweight fights seem to get most of the attention. Maybe that's why the press won't let go of its desire to promote the Microsoft Office vs. Google Docs fight.

My take - it won't be a fight worth watching. It won't be a 2nd round knockout. There won't even be a unanimous decision for Microsoft or Google. In fact, there will be many Software as a Service (SaaS) providers who realize success in bringing to market high value services. It will only accelerate as traditional and online software providers make it easier for customers to combine offerings.

Simplistic vs. Simple

We've all heard the old saying, "You can't have your cake and eat it too". It's rolls off the tongue so much more easily than, "You can't have two things which are incompatible".

A few things in life are absolutes. Most everything else, even if broadly accepted, is open to challenge.

Vitamins and Pain Killers

I had the chance to give a brief update on Smartsheet's progress at the Under the Radar conference in Mountain View last week.

It was good to see this year's new companies present as well. Interesting products. Smart people. Similar probing from the expert panelists as last year:

- 'How do you plan on selling your service?'
- 'Is what you have any different from company xyz who has been doing this for the past 2 years?'
- 'Does your idea constitute a company, product, or feature?'

Perpetuating The Office Legacy

Microsoft yesterday threw a counter punch to Google Sites. Office Live Workspaces was launched with much fanfare. You could almost hear the students and non-profits around the nation shout ‘let FREEdom reign’. Peek past the well orchestrated announcements and blog posts and recognize the old adage, that there is no such thing as a free lunch.

What is up with Googlesoft?

Google search does it right. One page, one search box, one call to action. The result: mass usage and relevance. It’s nearly impossible to get wrong. My father, at 71, can search for the local Thai restaurant as well as I. How many technologies obliterate those pesky learning curves forced upon us by youth or old age? I relate as strongly to Google’s design principle of ‘Keep it Simple’ as I do to their ‘Don’t be Evil’ corporate motto.

Unfortunately, the beloved ‘Keep it Simple’ philosophy is now officially under fire.

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