2009 Retrospective and 2010 Goals

2009 Retrospective

Let me start by saying, 2009 was one hell of a year. It was full of some incredibly high points, and one terribly low point.

• My first framework

  This year saw the 1.0 release of the first framework I’ve ever participated in developing. Since it’s proprietary, very few of you will ever use it, however, it was a great experience. It was my first real experience using design patterns in a way that they were actually useful.

• Death March

  This spring was also the wrap up of the death march project from hell. The project was riddled with months of wasted time, poor planning, unrealistic timelines, and a real lack of communication.

  The project ended up being ~20 days behind, which is something I consider a slight miracle all things considered. The real tragedy was that the finished program wasn’t what the business had envisioned, which resulted in 3 additional iterations and, even worse, my manager was demoted due to the project’s failure. That’s something that still pisses me off when I think about it.

  I came out of the experience learning three key things:

  1. Waterfall methodology doesn’t work at all
  2. Large corporate IT departments just aren’t my cup of tea
  3. I needed a new job
• Apprenticeship

  After the death project, I started taking a serious look at other job opportunities, which led to this tweet. That tweet triggered the events leading up to my apprenticeship. Epic win.

• Eau Claire Ruby

  While I’m no longer an active member, it was fun helping the group get up and running. It’s awesome to know that the group is still growing, and may even put on an event soon. If you’re in the Eau Claire area, make sure to check them out.

2010 Goals

I’m a believer that making goals public ends up have a net benefit. So here are mine:

• Ignitious

  The goal is to have some sort of launch by February 1st and have at least one paying customer by the end of the year. One paying customer will let me know that it solves a problem for at least one person or group. That’s a win in my book.

• Continuous Learning

  I have very little experience in front-end design and development. In an effort to change that, I will be attempting to do all of the UX design and development for Ignitious.

• Ruby (on Rails)

  It seems everyday I learn of some new helper method in Rails, or a feature of Ruby that I didn’t know about. That shit has to end.

• Public Speaking

  I will speak to at least one user group or code camp this year. Public speaking is something I’ve struggled with, so this will be a milestone.

• Publication

  In my attempt to become a better writer, I will write at least one article for Rails Magazine (or some other publication), as well as continuing to write more frequently here.

• Reading

  My girlfriend keeps nagging me to read more fiction novels (I only read 2 in 2009). So while not a technical goal, this year I’ll try and read 6.

So that’s my year in a nutshell and my goals for next year.
How was your year?
What are your goals?

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