Muddling through the interwebs, as I do every day, I came across a few interesting thoughts on personal development, “Business-2.0,” and blog categorization.
Starting with the last element, is the addition of a “Thoughts” category. A good place to drop half-formed ideas, random thoughts, and things that just don’t fit elsewhere yet deserve better than ‘Uncategorized.’ I guess this post is one of those “Thoughts.”
Next is on the subject of proposals, particularly for technology projects. I’ve never been overly involved in the proposal-writing process, but as circumstances are, I find I may need to develop this skill in the near future. The guys over at Wildbit have a nice little write-up on their “one page” initial proposal, what it’s for, and some of the things it should do. As a sort of precursor to the actual proposal, or an executive summary page for a finished proposal responding to a formal RFP, it definitely makes sense. Then again, I haven’t done this sort of work since 2000, so for now it’s just something to file away for reference.
And lastly, again from the Wildbit folks, were some points on what they look for when hiring, how they interview candidates, and some talk on the subject of personal development. That got me thinking about myself personally, and my burgeoning interests in software development, the web, and technology. I don’t actively contribute much to anything, anywhere, outside of proprietary corporate activities, and what I do contribute is inconsistent and sporadic (mostly the result of time constraints). The things I read, I also read fairly inconsistently, and don’t contain much in terms of design or development material. I know some fairly skilled designers and developers, but they all seem to have some sort of proclivity for reclusiveness, neither consuming from nor contributing to any sort of larger culture or community. Outside of my personal network, however, there exists a wealth of valuable commentary. I need to start tapping into that resource…
Lastly, I need to commit myself to a set of “office hours.” Right now, I spend my day at the day job, and my evenings in a sort of unstructured limbo — flowing with the tides and never getting done much of what I want to get done. By subscribing to a defined, rigorous schedule for my so-called unstructured time (which is limited to start, what with having kids and all), I should be able to start producing at least a modicum of material. We’ll see how that goes… :)
Update: After several days I’ve still not managed to establish any sort of structure for my unstructured time, and while I have completed a project or two, I’m still behind the curve I want to be on. It’s good to have goals, though, so I guess maybe that’s where this ultimately belongs — on my mythical goal chart. :)