a startup perspective to service and software development

Danny Lin

Managing Director, Plurk

Workshop on Advanced and Usable Software (WAUS)

Dec 14th, 2012 @ Taipei

Danny Lin

• Software Developer, Cartoon Company • Movie Screenplay Writer • Product Manager @ various scale of software companies • Columnist @ various magazines for over a decade • Operate a BBS (FidoNet) for more than 8 years • Head of Communication Products, Yahoo • Lead Product Manager, Google • COO, Online Game Company • Managing Director, Plurk

Founded by 3 co-founders in Toronto, Canada in 2008. Officially launched to public on June 2008. Anonymous (virtual identity), horizontal timeline,

emoticons, karma/badges We wanna make it funny and easy.

It can be your meme

It can be discussions

It can be chitchat

It’s social.

100% using open source software Our team members are also open source contributors

We have open source projects: http://opensource.plurk.com

What is a Startup? startup is a company or temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model.

Very limited resources Everyone is multitasking. Scalable. Flexible.

my 2 cents:

Exponential Growth v.s. Linear Solution

Earthquake!!!

Almost real-time. Tons of requests in

queue. User experience.

All your metrics are growing in a positive way, and you’re happy with it.

timeline data

size

number of users

A exponential problem.

Life is good, But hard.

Do you still want your users to feel happy?

How many money do you have to support the growth? I don’t have so much money.

I need to feed my team for the next 12 months. I don’t wanna kill myself or the service.

Off course. I truly do. I hope they feel no big difference if a change

is needed.

Spend $$$$ Buy new servers

NO. Don’t do that. You’re not Google or Yahoo.

Re-architecture? Rewrite your code to get better performance, handling more requests?

GOOD. Not perfect. And it takes time. New changes might screw up everything.

Look at how users are using your service!

female (59%) , male (41%)

Heavy (10%), Medium (85%) Low (5%)

85% users posted more than 8 new messages, 20 responses, read approx. 30 messages per session.

CONCLUSION: They care more about timely responses than getting a huge number of updates.

Don’t wanna spend too much $$$$.

Users feel no big difference.

Not buying new servers.

Make minimal code changes.

Limited size of updates list.

Satisfy 80% of users’ need.

Limited size of updates = 80+% of user need

timeline data

size

number of users

A linear solution to an exponential problem.

Life is better, And cool.

From Marathon to Sprints

Photo courtesy of Nordea Riga Marathon, under Creative Commons License.

well-equipped

control your breath

It’s a long journey

I might quit.

You need a race “strategy” You need support It takes time to practice and

prepare

Photo courtesy of abby chicken photography, under Creative Commons License.

just do it, no perfect “plan”.

just less than 1 mins, and it’s done.

It’s a quick run. Need to quick react, and be really solid.

Unload unnecessary concerns. A short race at top speed. Better cycle to fix things.

Grassroots effort - Users are your customers

Users are your friends

Users are your collaborator

Users are the best beta testers

What do they get in return? In the end, it’s about sensation. A badge, an official thank, being appeared on

your page, something they feel cool, or honored, would be seen as a reward.

At Plurk, every employee is also a customer care staff.

Directly and immediately responsive to the needs and wishes of the people involved.

Content Moderators You get the help from users from the community. They understand what the community need. They are real people, not robot.

Translators 36 languages translated by Plurk users worldwide. They love to contribute. They feel honored, in return, get a Plurk translator badge

shown on their profile.

“Agile”

Quick React. Fix critical ones first. (what users cares the most)

Unload unnecessary features, learn from users and data.

Release tiny features frequently, less than 3 at a time.

Do something funny and sometimes crazy instead of following the rule.

Don’t follow every move your competitor did.

Think Out of the Box No one define rules for you. You rule it yourself.

Explore new needs from users and data.

Trust your new idea. Do not hesitate to try.

Take it easy. Make it simple. Enjoy the complaints.

Don’t try to release 100 features at a time.

Simplify development processes.

Simply your product designs.

CONTACT Danny Lin email: danny@dannylin.net blog: http://dannylin.net facebook: http://fb.com/facedannylin