Goals for 2011

I’ve said in the past that setting goals for each year is a good practice. And while I try to do that every year, those goals don’t always make it to the blog in a timely fashion for some good old fashioned public accountability. Sadly I’ve skipped the public accountability aspect of my goal setting for the past 3 years. In an effort to prevent this from becoming another one of those years, I hereby announce my goals for 2011.

1) Blog more often, at least one full blown article per week on average.

Yea, this “New Years Resolution” went out the window already. But all isn’t lost. I’m technically several posts behind for the year but not so far behind that I can’t catch up. The problem is more about me not making the time to blog than it is about having ideas for articles. I have a list of more than 100 article ideas. I just need to start knocking them out. Of course, if you have an idea for an article you would like to hear my thoughts on, feel free to drop me a line.

2) Launch AuditShark before the end of June of this year

I’ve been largely quiet about the progress of this little product, but it’s not exactly little by any stretch of the imagination. I’ve been working on it for a long time and feel like I’ve come farther in the past few months than in quite some time. Check out the AuditShark website and if you’d like to hear more about the product, sign up for the mailing list. The next 6 months or so are going to be really interesting. I will likely see about pulling some beta testers from the people who sign up, so if you want a preview, that’s a good way to get it. I’ll also accept monetary bribes from customers.

3) Reach out to fellow developers more often.

Unlike my other goals, this one is a lot more difficult to quantify. There’s no real metrics behind it other than simply chatting with developers about what they are trying to do and seeing if there is advice I can offer or ways I can connect them with other people who can help them along. So far this year, I’ve had several hours worth of conference calls with indie developers who have greatly appreciated the advice. I went out to meet with an aspiring entrepreneur/developer in the DC area several weeks ago and will likely have another in the Boston area later this year.

Additionally, I’ve been named as an official Friend of Red Gate which is, in two words, simply awesome. I can’t wait to spread the word a bit more about the great things they’re doing for the software world, not to mention talk about some of their tools a bit more to people who can use good software and database development tools.

4) Speak at a conference

I’m actually quite a competent public speaker. It would be nice to start speaking more at conferences, but I guess it takes time and effort before you start getting invited to things. I’ve been on several podcasts and fielded a ton of questions from people on private conference calls but it’s been a while since I’ve been asked to give a presentation at a conference. Who knows. Maybe I’ll host my own.

5) Finish my book

In my younger years, I dreamed of being a full time writer. I wrote in my spare time and people who read my work felt that my writing was quite good for my age. I went to college for Computer Engineering and never looked back. I certainly don’t regret my decision to become a hardware enthusiast/software developer, but I’ve always enjoyed writing. I’ve started writing the outline of my book and have even completed some of the writing. It has quite a ways to go, but it’s an exciting process to know that eventually, it will be out there in the wild for people to read, buy, and then use at a book burning convention. My goal is to finish it later this year, but I don’t expect to be done before the end of summer. I have to focus a lot on goal #3 until summer.

So, there you have it. My high level goals for the year. I have a bunch of other goals for the year, but many of them are simply stepping stones to the goals above or ways of measuring the goals above. I think that all of these goals are completely attainable, and those are the best kind to have.

Care to share yours? Do it in the comments below.