Rick Klau, a partner at Google Ventures, has been set to deliver the Keynote address at ABA TECHSHOW 2014 on Friday March 28, 2014 at 12:45 PM. At Google Ventures, Klau helps lead Startup Lab. He was previously a product manager at Google where he led product initiatives on Blogger, Google+, and YouTube.

Rick will be discussing the latest in technology and how technology impacts the legal profession today. Previously, he has addressed the the issue of keeping one’s eye on the business “big picture” in this blog post “Measure Twice, Cut Once,”rather than getting sidetracked by tangents (however important they might seem).

It’s easy to say yes when a customer (or prospect) asks for a new feature: after all, if it’s just a day or two of engineering time, why not? But you quickly lose sight of the product you’re building: your product no longer has a coherent vision, and each new feature brings with it uncertain support costs that will last as long as the feature remains. Much harder — but much more important — is the discipline to question whether the feature is a required piece of what you’re building. New or old, easy or hard — if the feature does not support the overall product goals, it has to go. Customers and team-members alike respond to that discipline — particularly if it results in better support, more predictable development, and a clearer understanding of what it is you’re trying to build.

Learn more about Klau by visiting his weblog and by following him on Google+ and Twitter.