What the ?? Where did that title come from? From an absolutely fascinating article,
“…and The Mound-builders Vanished From The Earth”, on how Americans (loosely defined) tried to determine just who built those mounds everywhere in North America?
To The Point then…
Last Friday, I let my domain registration for Groove411.com expire. I registered it in 2000 amidst a flurry of other “411” style domains with an eye towards perhaps using it to generate some content around the Groove platform. Groove was pretty cool but I never really got into it though to make a site and my Notes & Domino work kept me busy. Plus when I transferred the domain registration to GoDaddy something happened during the transfer where they added ten years to the expiration date so it has been free for me ever since.
Well, a little bit like today, 2000 was a very strange time in the Domino community. To say that an “economic malaise” had settled into the IT community in general and the Domino community specifically is an understatement. It was bad. I hate to sound like an “old guy” (“We walked five miles to school every day. Heat, rain, snow. Uphill both ways!”) but, for the record, this economic thing since 2008 is quite easy relatively when compared to what happened right after Y2K.
I made some plans back then and am always thinking about my future as it relates to Domino.
There are three blog posts I want to link to today that have struck a chord with me much louder than normal. I wish I could say I don’t know why but the fact is I do.
This year I turned down offers to be nominated as an IBM Champion, I did not submit any abstracts to IBM Connect and it is almost certain that I will not be attending IBM Connect in January.
None of that should be taken as any indication of anything bad about IBM, Notes, Domino or anything else. It’s just that my professional activities these days have caused quite a shift in my priorities and annual schedule that requires that I not be in Orlando in January. It’s hard to overstate how big of a life change that is for me. Since 1995, being in Orlando in January has been the centerpiece of my professional, and, sometimes, my personal, life. I’ve made a lot of friends over the years and it bothers me that I won’t get to see them in January. I am hoping to perhaps attend the next year and am actively trying to arrange my 2014 calendar so that I can at least attend if not speak at some LUGS.
So the three blog posts you should read are:
Marky Roden’s “Future-proofing yourself“
Tim Tripcony’s “they told me I could be anything“
Christian Tillmans’ “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here“
All three of these writers are spot on. That’s why planning for your future is hard. But it’s necessary.
Two of the most important things in my office are
1. A sign that says “Direct your own destiny”
2. A motivational poster about Abraham Lincoln’s failures.
My Thought For The Day: You be “The Boss of You”!