The Opening Remarks for South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive 2006 in Austin Texas were awesome. Coming straight out of a 3 hour car ride from Dallas, it was a great point-of-entry into the next four days of web goodness.

It was a funny beginning. After finding a seat, I was finishing up a Flash project for one of my clients in Charlotte when a guy tapped me on the shoulder and wanted to know about what I was working on. Turns out it was Mike Downey, Senior Product Manager for Flash. We chatted about future of Flash and After Effects and he gave me some quick tips in Flash 8. A Pretty nice run-in.

Jim Coudal began the program. His headshot makes him look like a boring guy but he is far from it. He spoke about several projects Coudal Partners has launched including The Show
where a team goes on the road with bands (he mentioned the Pixies Specifically) where they record, mix, design and produce limited edition live sets.

When accepting jobs, he and his team considers three questions:

1. Will it be something we will be proud of?
2. Will it make money?
3. Will we learn something from it?

His emphasis was heavy on the 3rd point. Pushing forward and learning new things was the single most important element for a successful creative firm. He segued into his conclusion that the meek will not inherit the earth…the curious will.

Jason Fried of 37signals followed with some of his opinions about approaching the development of software. When addressing how companies often try to “outdo” their competitors he suggested “under-doing” them could result in better products. Under-doing consists of the following:

1. Less time.
2. Less money.
3. Less Software.

All of which ultimately contribute to a streamlined, simpler product. The only thing he suggested more of was constraints. By adding more constraints on a idea development, the purest elements are squeezed out.

These guys really opened the floodgates for the creative river. You can listen to the audio recording on this podcast.

~ David Tisdale