Blogging Ottinger (tim)

I’m told that this blog will be ending soon, as its host is giving up the ghost. I will try to move it to a different host soon, and leave a forwarding address.
Thanks for staying with me all this time.

If you’re one of my techie friends, also check out my work blogs:
http://agileinaflash.com/
http://agileotter.blogspot.com/

Ever have a day when you just don’t like anything you’ve done?

Today was largely a relearning day for skills which have seriously atrophied over the past year. There was a fair amount of fiddling to relearn the language, the import and namespace system, basic project setup, testing and mocking, etc. I used to do this six to eight hours a day just under a year ago. It’s amazing what you can’t keep fresh in your head.

I wish that my brain was a series of linked databases where everything was stored and backed up, and it was all kept in neat compartments with references to related bits of info. However, I lose information, and it bleeds from language to language. If I sit down to write C#, I get python and ruby and C++ and C and even Java mixed into my thinking. I guess I have a sloppy brain. Between outright losing track of things and info flooding from one area of my brain to another, it’s more like my important information is stored in a leaky blender. It’s lossy and messy.

Sigh. Maybe it’s always been so, I just didn’t know enough things to notice the slurring and loss?

There’s no reason you need to see this, other than it being cool.

I’m going to be back to 50% travel soon. I was taking personal responsibility and initiative to provide my client with full coverage even though I no longer had a pair programmer (a non-sustainable pace, whose effect was becoming more visible and which my employer warned against). My newest partner candidate was accepted and will be starting on Monday, which means I will travel half as much and be more involved both in my family and in non-coaching work at Industrial Logic.

I’m looking forward to being back in line with my “sustainable pace” value. I’m also looking forward to being back in the mix on product work, generating leads, making contacts, etc. I’m also going to be able to start reconnecting with my community though church committees and local craftsmen/programming groups. I’m going to be writing more, since I have some projects in the works, and clearly I’m excited to be spending more time with my wife and kids.

It was a pretty long stretch, but we’ve all come through it, generated revenue for the company and had a steady income for us all, and the best is stil yet to come.

We just got news that AgileInAFlash is going into its second printing after 8 months on the market.
Thanks to all who participated, provided feedback, followed the effort, bought a deck, or outfitted a team.

For just a moment, consider an alternative interpretation of your life so far.

Don’t look at it as a series of contests you’ve won, rewards you’ve earned, or challenges you’ve overcome with your virtue and effort.

For just a minute consider your life as a series of gifts. People who have recognized some natural giftedness or kindred-ness in you have gifted you with learning, connections, and opportunities. Your successes are those that were afforded to you, sometimes perhaps even thrust upon you. How many of your best moments were given to you by people who cared about you, your career, your personal happiness or fulfillment? How many to people who appreciated your usefulness or character, or enjoyed your presence?

Allow yourself to consider the possibility that our greatest giftedness is each other. Pay it forward. Watch for opportunities to share.

Well, this is a busy time.

I’m traveling some of the time with Industrial Logic, doing some coaching. I’m enjoying the work, and trying to do more than just coach. I have lots of things to learn and do, so the only way I’m ever unsatisfied is when I’m unsatisfied with how much I know how to complete in a week. I am trying to get more deeply connected with our community and become more competent with our products, but am battling my coaching hyperfocus and trying to find time for a little balance.

Agile In A Flash is doing pretty well, and I’m finishing my second quarter of sales since release.

This coming check will be for the family (as was the last one) but next one may be used to buy my next electric guitar. I have only one i want. I have a strat, a hollowbody, and two humbucker-loaded guitars. I have long wanted a P90-equipped guitar, but the one I want goes beyond that with two Duncan P-Rails pickups, each of which is a strat-style blade pickup and a P90 paired up to act like a humbucker. You can make it play as either of the above. I plan for it to be the last electric guitar I buy. In related news I have one more pedal (volume) I want to buy for my pedal board, and I’m done with that too. I’m too old to keep buying gear, especially when I’m not out playing with a band.

My work for the church has been back-burner-ed for a long time. It’s time to get things moving. I need to either get something done or get someone else hired. More on this as it happens.

We’re all doing okay. Catch you next time.

Well, this is a busy time.

I’m traveling some of the time with Industrial Logic, doing some coaching. I’m enjoying the work, and trying to do more than just coach. I have lots of things to learn and do, so the only way I’m ever unsatisfied is when I’m unsatisfied with how much I know how to complete in a week. I am trying to get more deeply connected with our community and become more competent with our products, but am battling my coaching hyperfocus and trying to find time for a little balance.

Agile In A Flash is doing pretty well, and I’m finishing my second quarter of sales since release.

This coming check will be for the family (as was the last one) but next one may be used to buy my next electric guitar. I have only one i want. I have a strat, a hollowbody, and two humbucker-loaded guitars. I have long wanted a P90-equipped guitar, but the one I want goes beyond that with two Duncan P-Rails pickups, each of which is a strat-style blade pickup and a P90 paired up to act like a humbucker. You can make it play as either of the above. I plan for it to be the last electric guitar I buy. In related news I have one more pedal (volume) I want to buy for my pedal board, and I’m done with that too. I’m too old to keep buying gear, especially when I’m not out playing with a band.

My work for the church has been back-burner-ed for a long time. It’s time to get things moving. I need to either get something done or get someone else hired. More on this as it happens.

We’re all doing okay. Catch you next time.

Exciting moment of the week was getting my first pragprog royalties check for Agile In A Flash. It isn’t a fortune, but certainly has come in handy, and it is nice to see some payback on the work. All kinds of kudos have been coming in twitter and email. The deck is being well-received, even by non-agile teams and individuals working in ops. Cards have been finding their way into managers’ desk and at least one tweep says he used the cards to explain agile to a C-level executive.

It’s a great time here. New job, royalties week, and the sun is coming out. It might actually be warm this weekend!

There has been a lot going on, indeed.

I have joined Industrial Logic, and even got my first prorated paycheck for the wee bit of March I got to spend as an employee. I’m still getting settled in and starting to get set up with code and accounting and all. It’s exciting.

I also just got my first royalty check for Agile In A Flash. While it’s not a fortune, it’s enough to cover a house payment. That’s pretty exciting. Only three more months to the next one.

I also have another article coming out with Jeff Langr in Pragmatic Bookshelf. We’ve been taking turns being primary, and this is one he took the lead on. He did such a good job that there was darned little for me to edit or add. Our next one is going to be very equal in input and shape and rather personable.

I also just published an article in Software Quality Connection on how agile teams handle overtime. It’s my first article for that magazine. It’s another check coming my way, too!

I’m exhausted from a busy and very good weekend with lots of manual labor and fellowship with good friends. It was a weekend of music, good food, and good deeds done dirt cheap.

I will be at “Agile comes to Chicago” tomorrow. if you happen to be in the area I’ll see you there or at ChiSC meeting.

There is a web site dedicated to the 9/9/1969 crash in London Indiana. When it happened, I was in a school bus dropping off children in the trailer park on my bus route. We were at the first row of trailers, right where the debris fell. I was 7. The driver put the bus in reverse and backed us out of the debris field and called in.

My father was a volunteer with his CB radio club (11 Meter Safety Club), and they frequently volunteered to direct traffic or aid in emergencies. A lot of people thought he was a policeman, but he never was. He was one of the people who helped with the cleanup, collecting mechanical parts and marking human parts for collection. It was grisly. I remember how grim he would look when he got home, and he didn’t talk about it. He just said it was bad.

I remember watching all the emergecny vehicles streaming past my house on london road. My family had just bought a large appliance and we kids watched the vehicles zip past from inside the large cardboard box.

Odd the things you remember. I remember looking out the window of the bus, seeing scrap metal and springs and a shoe.