This is a talk for the WAUS forum (Workshop on Advanced and Usable Software) I've presented on Dec 14th, 2012 @ National Cheng Chi University, Taipei, Taiwan

1. Danny Lin
Managing Director, Plurk
Workshop on Advanced and Usable Software (WAUS)
Dec 14th, 2012 @ Taipei

2. 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

3.  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

4. What is a Startup?
startup is a company or temporary organization
designed to search for a repeatable and scalable
business model.
my 2 cents:
 Very limited resources
 Everyone is multitasking.
 Scalable. Flexible.

5. Exponential Growth
v.s. Linear Solution

6.  Almost real-time.
 Tons of requests in
Earthquake!!! queue.
 User experience.

7.  All your metrics are growing in a positive way,
and you’re happy with it.
A exponential problem.
timeline data
size
Life is good,
But hard.
number of users

8.  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.
 Do you still want your users to feel happy?
 Off course. I truly do.
 I hope they feel no big difference if a change
is needed.

9.  Spend $$$$
Buy new servers
NO.
Don’t do that.
You’re not Google or
Yahoo.

10.  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.

11.  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.

12. Don’t wanna spend too much $$$$.
Not buying new servers.
Make minimal code changes.
Users feel no big difference.
Limited size of updates list.
Satisfy 80% of users’ need.

13.  Limited size of updates = 80+% of user need
A linear solution to an
exponential problem.
timeline data
size
Life is better,
And cool.
number of users

14. From Marathon to Sprints

15. control your breath
I might quit. well-equipped
 You need a race “strategy”
 You need support
 It takes time to practice and
It’s a long journey prepare
Photo courtesy of Nordea Riga Marathon, under Creative Commons License.

16. It’s a quick run.
Need to quick react, and be really solid.
just do it,
no perfect “plan”.
just less than 1 mins,
and it’s done.
 Unload unnecessary concerns.
 A short race at top speed.
 Better cycle to fix things.
Photo courtesy of abby chicken photography, under Creative Commons License.

17.  Grassroots effort -
 Users are your customers  At Plurk, every employee is
also a customer care staff.
 Users are your friends
 Directly and immediately
 Users are your collaborator responsive to the needs and
 Users are the best beta testers wishes of the people
involved.
 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.

18. Translators
Content Moderators
 You getlanguages translatedfrom the community.
 36 the help from users by Plurk users worldwide.
 TheyThey love to contribute.
 understand what the community need.
 They feel honored, in return, get a Plurk translator badge
 They are real people, not robot.
shown on their profile.

19. “Agile”

20.  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.

21.  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.

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