Zach Baker: Story-Driven

I’ve had a couple of talks from University of Waterloo professor Larry Smith sitting around on my computer desktop for months and months. I just got around to them. They’re great.

The two talks are all about the exciting future of software. You ever hear about how people in the 80’s used to be so excited about computers solving all kinds of problems and the new companies that were going to rule the economy? That’s Larry Smith’s perspective – it hasn’t changed and his enthusiasm hasn’t changed either. Apart from his very Canadian accent, what I most enjoyed was his enthusiasm for “empire building” software.

He’s really passionate about innovation – economic innovation, that is. It’s the only kind worth interest as far as he’s concerned. He doesn’t want to hear about slightly better graphics or solving some old computer science problems. His interest is in software that gets “big bucks” because it replaces expensive, tedious and error-prone business processes.

Along the way in each talk, he tells an intruiging story of an obscure but quite profitable local software company. He emphasizes that the company is one you would never have heard of, but that’s fine with them.

It probably sounds pretty dry to hear me talk about it, but Professor Smith’s insight and passion makes for an engaging presentation. He offers both a clear-headed appreciation of the big picture in the software business, a lot of detailed observations, and some entertaining storytelling. Check it out if you’re in computer science or software – I’d recommend you watch or listen to “Creating Killer Applications” from early this year at this link:

Larry Smith talks at the University of Waterloo Computer Club