True Geekwards Reboot - Everything Else is Rebooting, Why Not This Too?

"I have been thinking for quite a while about starting a blog, and the time has come.

The purpose of my blog..."

Almost a year ago (8/13/11), this was how I started. I managed to get 6 posts out in a little over a month. I underestimated the time and effort that would be required to create this blog, especially since I committed to posting complete, pertinent, well thought out material. Despite the extra time and effort I had to put in, I was enjoying the activity and happy with the product.


THEN LIFE HAPPENED.


The team experienced more turn-over than we have had to deal with for quite a while. My Business Analyst (and "right hand man") resigned to pursue an opportunity with another company. One of my developers resigned to go to Space X (it is hard to fight something like that). We gained a couple of people, we lost a couple of people including my manager and most of our "development support" staff. Mostly normal turn-over kind of things, but stressful, nonetheless. Overall, I think the team has weathered it well, and learned from the experience.


We also suffered through: some production system challenges that meant long hours and tons of pressure from the business; reworking of some of our process and procedures to accommodate tactical and strategic IT plans; and a workload that is hard on a small staff with limited resources. 


Despite these stresses and challenges (or possibly because of them), some good things happened for my personal career. When my manager resigned, and I was promoted. This meant that for a time I was responsible for all my team lead duties, all my supervisor duties, AND all of his duties. It was a new challenge and I worked through it, finding a way to make it all work and adjusting my work load and work flow to accommodate. Going from "doing" to "delegating" is a very hard thing for people like me. It was not easy on me, my team or my family. But, as I often say, "If it was easy, ANYONE could do it!"


I am always my worst critic, and the things I could have done better often stand out more in my memory than the things that I did right. I must have done more right than wrong though, because 6 months later I was promoted to Director of Application Services. I have no doubt that a significant factor in my recent elevations has been "being in the right place at the right time", but as I become more comfortable in my skin as a member of management, I can tell that my skill and ability is increasing. And my focus remains on further improvement and stretching to meet and exceed expectations; expectations laid upon me by the company, as well as those laid upon me by myself. I am also currently working on my PMP, and have been offered a spot on the Computer Science & Industrial Technology Advisory Board for Southeastern Louisiana University.


So.... with all these things happening, the blog did not. I thought about it often, more in the last few weeks than ever, but just never actually sat down and worked on it. I have decided to re-commit to writing, and so my first new post is a reboot, a "what happened to the blog" post as well,  as an update to my first post.


From post #1 (with updates in italics):
Why am I qualified to give advice and opinions on these topics? I am not entirely sure that I am. I have been developing software since 1979. I started with a TRS-80 and "trash basic" in the 3rd grade. I tried it out in a class and my life changed. I have had a passion for computers, technology and software since. I have learned untold number of languages over the years, and equally as many patterns and techniques. I have been in the professional world since the early 90's, and have worked for companies that range from LARGE banks to a consulting company with five employees including two and a half developers (one was part time). I currently work for a mid-size, national auto insurance company. My responsibilities have ranged from humble beginnings as a help-desk tech through a few ups and downs to my current position as the manager of a six man development team where Director of Application Services. I am responsible for a development team that is currently under-staffed at 4 developers, but will have 7+ developers when fully staffed, as well as development support staff of QAs and BAs. I act as the architect, project manager, and design and development supervisor, IT project governance and strategic advisor, IT recruiter, coordinator of efforts between multiple development teams, lead business analyst, lead quality assurance analyst, and many other things.

I am always open to constructive criticism, and am willing to consider points of view other than my own. I have learned that good honest debate is sometimes the best way to learn something new.

And so it begins (again)...