So at the end of 2009 I posted a list of goals I wanted to accomplish in 2010. This post serves as a recap of what I accomplished and didn't accomplish. Tomorrow I'll post my goals for 2011. Yes it's a bit cliché but it's good to have a picture of what you want to do.
2010 Recap
1) (Partial Credit) Update this blog with a new topic at least twice a month. I managed this for about 3 months, then it vanished. As usual when the schedule got hectic this fell by the wayside. So this goal gets renewed for 2011. I just moved the site over to squarespace (and i'm loving it) and really want to keep it useful.
2) (Success) Speak at something, anything, and codemash doesn't count. I pulled this one off. I spoke at CleRB once this year about geolocation in rails and also pitched at Startup weekend. Not huge events by any means but its the start of public speaking. I need to try and get out there more this year, but its surprisingly hard coming up with interesting topics.
3) (Success) Continue developing a Kanban approach for consultancies and apply it to my current job. Well so kinda. I didn't pull this one off at the "current job" but i did switch jobs and have moved to a company where helping establish Kanban was one of my first priorities. I'm very happy to report we now have a working process with a mostly remote team and all seems to be going well. My goal is to expand on this in 2011 and bring in more Agile techniques to our consulting practice.
4) (Success) Learn some of the new development techniques and technologies in the .NET world. So of my original list I can say that I now have experience in NHibernate, Fluent NHibernate, WPF and an academic knowledge of MVC. I'm confident in the next few months MVC will move into the "very comfortable" stage. In addition to that I've learned quite about about MVP pattern and EF4.
5) (Success) Continue to get to know Ruby. I'm really proud of the experience I've gained in ruby this year. It's truly gone from a hobby to something I am comfortable using professionally and recommending to clients. The specific bullet points from last years list aren't necessarily all filled in yet but overall I'm happy standing in as a defacto ruby expert on projects. Goal for 2011 is simply keep going, i love the platform more and more as i use it and there are some great rubiests in cleveland to learn from.
6) (Complete, not really success) Get things squared away with Greenfield Studios. Well Greenfield Studios is no longer in use but for quite a few months i used the name Greenfield Consulting (and technically still do) for side project work. The new gig has brought a bit more intensity so I've stopped doing side work for now but things are straight on this one.
7) (Epic Fail) Finish EventCasts and one other side project. Eventcasts was shuttered and the codebase made open source on github. Started a new project, Questering, but that too has languished. Now I'm working with a fantastic team on the project we started for Startup Weekend - Dreamkumo. This one seems to have legs, we'll see how 2011 goes.
House /Personal Goals
These didnt go so well
1) (Fail) Finish remodeling the basement Nothing has really happened in a year. The tiles up but that's about it. Too much time & month for right now.
2) (Fail) Seal the floor in the garage - I forgot about this one
3) (Depressing Fail) Take a vacation somewhere outside of Ohio or any state that borders Ohio. This is my most depressing failure. In 2011 we are going to Boston for a friends wedding so that could serve as a kickoff for a decent vacation though, we'll see.
4) (Consistent Fail) Pay off my friends at Discover Card. Ya.... i'm going to be paying these people forever. The notion of debt reduction doesn't seem to be in my vocabulary.
5) (Shocking Fail) Figure out a "diet plan" and stick to it, lose 10 lbs a month. Ya that was sarcasm (the shocking part) this didn't happen. I did start working out with a trainer and am doing pretty well, i think, but haven't really lost much weight.
So that's 2010. Tomorrow I'll post what I want to do in 2011 including a new blog series I want to write and some other goals.
Originally from Jai -
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I approve of "Partial Credit" - the idea appeals to me!
Second, for the weight loss thing, I don't know that you failed THIS year, I think you failed when you made the goal in the first place! 10lbs a month from a dead start seems a bit... Aggressive! The fact that you haven't ever just given up and dropped it altogether counts as a win in my book. You never lose until you stop trying, right?
Third (and finally) I'd like to hear your thoughts on Kanban related to consulting - I don't see how you could apply the concepts, but I'm quite curious.
Good post.
And good luck with the upcoming year's goals!
Jai