Paul Young on ProductCamp Austin

Over the last few weeks, there has been an increasing amount of talk about the upcoming ProductCamp Austin. I asked Paul Young, one of the organizers, if he could give us the background on the event.

Lynn Bender: You're a local guy. Where did you get the idea to host a ProductCamp Austin. Have you previously attended one in another city? Have you attended a BarCamp?

Paul Young: I've been in Austin for 10 years, and had several opportunities to move out to the Valley, but always turned them down because we love Austin. One aspect of the Bay Area that I've always had a jealous eye towards is that their critical mass of technical and marketing people really lends itself to organization of great events.

Aside from the various BarCamps, the first ProductCamp (called P-Camp) was held in the Valley back in March. I looked at what they did and thought "we need that in Austin." I sent out some feelers to people I've met through my Product Management blog (Product Beautiful) and away we went.

I've never done a BarCamp before, so this is a new experience for me as an organizer as well. We've set some ambitious goals for sessions and attendance, and I know this is going to be a great event because whenever you put smart, capable people together in a room, good stuff happens.

Bender: GeekAustin recently interviewed Jason Cohen of SmartBear (interview). Jason mentioned that he was using Agile practices in his marketing programs. I notice that many of the people involved with, and blogging about, ProductCamp Austin have a knowledge of Agile, Design Patterns, and similar tools. Even the word Pragmatic hints at the classic text The Pragmatic Programmer by Andrew Hunt and Dave Thomas. What's going on? Are the marketing folks getting hip to engineering methodologies or are the engineers taking over the marketing dept?

Young: Both! "Big M" Marketing, which includes Product Management, is very interested in solutions to the customer's problems and not just ordering t-shirts and making their YouTube video "go viral." Agile has some great aspects about turning code in fast iterations and not over documenting, but the beauty of Agile is that it injects a greater understanding of the customer and her problems into the company. There are a lot of reasons why Agile is catching fire, and whichever one you like, they all get back to "how can we solve a problem that's real?"

Interestingly, most Marketing teams still perform their positioning in a very waterfall-like manner: go in a room, position, output documents...redevelop a year later when the Sales team says that the message isn't working. Can we position a product like we develop in Agile? Develop, test, refine continuously? Sounds like a great session for ProductCamp!

Bender: What kinds of sessions do you expect ProductCamp to cover?

Young: ProductCamp will have sessions covering all aspects of the product management and development lifecycle. John Milburn from Pragmatic Marketing will lead a session about technology assessment and where to put your development dollars. Bjorn Aannestad has signed up to facilitate a discussion about different methods we use to do feature prioritization. I'll be leading a roundtable about working with offshore manufacturing and development. Proposed sessions include how Product Managers can work effectively in an Agile shop, career planning and transitioning into and out of Product Management, and dealing with GUIs in requirements.

Bender: How many folks do you expect at the event? I've noticed that a few barcamps have attracted upwards of 1000 people. Do you think that there is a limit to how big a barcamp type event can scale before it ceases to be an un-conference and turns into a traditional conference?

Young: Because ProductCamp is focused on more specific topics than BarCamp, I doubt we will see 1000 people. We'll probably have less than 100; our goal is to have a high quality group who are dealing with the pressing problems in the product development process every day. The sessions are going to be interesting and thought provoking, and participants should come ready to be challenged - and challenge one another. Product Management is still poorly understood in technology companies, so it is up to us to help define what is a critical role that will shape the software and products we use in the future.

As far as keeping the spirit of the event, I strongly believe that no one wants to come out to hear a bunch of talking heads droning about process and continuous improvement. The un- in un-conference means that the rule of 2-feet applies: if you don't feel like you're getting value in a session - find another! ProductCamp is participation driven, and the day will go where the participants take it.

Bender: Is this a free event? I see that Pragmatic Marketing is one of the sponsors. Who are the other sponsors? Are you still seeking additional sponsors? Do you need additional volunteers?

Young: This is a 100% free event and everyone is welcome! The only cost is participation.

ProductCamp is sponsored by Pragmatic Marketing, Austin Ventures, St. Edwards University Professional Education Center, The Association of International Product Marketing and Management, and NetStreams - and we are seeking more (email pt.young@gmail.com).

We will never have enough volunteers! If you are interested in ProductCamp, first go sign up as a participant. Then list yourself on the wiki under "Volunteers" and we'll find a job for you! Finally, if you feel like you have something to share about Product Management or Marketing, or the way products and software are being developed, sign up to lead a session as a speaker.

Bender: When and where will ProductCamp be held?

Young: ProductCamp will be held Saturday June 14th, 2008, 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM at St. Edwards University's Professional Education Center on 9420 Research Blvd., near Mopac and 183. To sign up, and learn more, go to the official site for ProductCamp Austin.