Evan on Engineering Software

What's the theme of COFES 2009? Technically, I'm certain it's innovation, but there was a lot of talk -- and use -- of Twitter this year.

There were scores of "tweets," from at least a dozen people. (including me, using my Google G1 phone.)  Here are a few samples:

  stavanja: "'Unterrible' is the new 'outperform'" - Jay Vleeschhouwer

evanyares: Bob Bean mentions aerospace initiative: LOTAR, long term archiving (of cad data.)

caddmanager: Lunch with David Jordani and Mark Sawyer (CEO of VICO). What a great crowd has assembled at COFES.

mikepaz: BIM-Inovation Under Construction- Until the industry can agree on the terms of collaberation, the technology will be irrelevant.

redbos: Talk led by Jim Brown on "Engineering and Social Networking" was amazing and very productive...hope you got to see it

You probably get the general drift:  quotes, comments, and opinions on what was going on., in real time. A force multiplier for the value of the conference.  You can see many of the COFES 2009 twitters at #cofes2009

Some of the more interesting twitters came from randallnewton.  Here are a few gems:

Talking SharePoint PDM with @brianseitz at the Western cookout. Don't confuse changing platforms with progress, seek results.

A steep business decline does not mean a steep business gain will follow. (Jay Vleeschhouwer)

A lot of really smart people came before you; learn from their processes even if their results aren't relevant. (Chuck House)

Climate of fear and distrust hinder use of social tools in industry (Jim Brown)

The concept of "core competency" has been destructive; don't export your learning. (Chuck House)

The funny thing is, the uninitiated don't  "get" what Twitter is about, and can't imagine a senario where it would be valuable in business.