Ideas are Just Ideas | "Hello World!"
About three years ago (and even earlier) I started cataloging ideas for this blog, but never actually posted a single one, and that is exactly the point, execution (or lack thereof).
Not to say "nothing" has been happening, quite the contrary, it has been an incredibly busy 3 years. On taking a new opportunity to establish the Enterprise Data Governance program at MetLife, we moved our family from picturesque Hunterdon County, NJ to Cary, North Carolina; and I swapped my daily 2 1/2 hour commute to NYC, to a 10 min drive to the brand new Metlife Global Technology and Operations campus overlooking Lake Crabtree. It has been an extremely busy and rewarding time. (Thank you wife!)
But there is something missing in creating my own content. As a trained visual artist, I learned to appreciate the benefit of stepping away from the intricate drawing or brushwork and squint my eyes, to blur the details so you can be sure not to miss the big picture. And with all the work, all the planning, all the focus on creating a robust data governance program, I've kept my personal and non-corporate professional production to the confines of my notebooks, and short content posted on Twitter and LinkedIn. I think now is a good time to start a new stream.
Although I believe in the intrinsic value of knowledge for the sake of knowledge, in everyday terms, nothing matters in the completely theoretical world of ideas. One has to apply what is so diligently thought through or learned, and as Seth Godin reminds us, "Poke the Box". You just have to start, and finish something. Even with just this site, this blog, this one completed post.
There are currently (18) drafts sitting in my blog queue. So ideas that may have good potential, run the risk of becoming stale; and with ~7.7 billion people in the world, to think my ideas are significantly unique is highly improbable. However, elaborating on the right idea, at the right time, leads to the potential for critical mass where properly executing on that concept can make it seem that it is a unique, beautiful little snowflake.
So prioritizing and executing are the key. And as the saying goes, "execution eats strategy for breakfast" (or similarly "culture eats strategy for breakfast"). Therefore, creating a culture or habit of execution in order to regularly develop various ideas into fully articulated content will be the goal. And as I enter yet another decade of my life, blessed with the opportunity of years of reflection, so much rings true with the imperative to "push" a product out into the world; and best described in the Agile / Scrum terms of the minimal viable product (MVP). Think of every programmer's first program, "Hello World!" (Mine was in BASIC)
As we move forward into 2018, I'll be reflecting on those ideas to root out the problem. Draw from existing experiences and resources, and learn new information. Then formulate and use scientific method to derive a hypothesis. Be critical of that hypothesis, and think about how to falsify your belief. Do everything to NOT confirm one's theory or one's ego, and get to a point of confidence where one can say, "To the best of my knowledge, with all information I have at hand, this is 'true'."
And then release it into the world. Hello World!
Some useful information for me over the years:
A few books on starting:
The books, articles, and musing of Seth Godin, see http://sethgodin.com/sg/books.asp
Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done By Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan
Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time by Jeff Sutherland
Becky's current project "The Woolflower"
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