Last updated on 2019/09/26
This post is being started on Sept 22, 2019. I don’t know when it will be posted live to the site. The idea for this post came to me because I hit a significant milestone this morning. Someone else checked out the blog! At this point, things have been live for just over a full week and in that time I have written and posted 10 posts. Already the process of writing feels easier to me. Part of my process is also to create as many post topics as I can so that I always have some runway for choosing something to think and write about. Be warned – there is no method to this madness and the posts are wide ranging and varied and there is no master plan for targeting some posts and topics above others. In fact, one of the ways that I am trying to set myself up for success is to create post topics anytime I think of them. I have written them down at work, thought of them in the shower, and looked through old emails to see subjects that might drive interesting thought discussions.
Here is a current view of the Posts section of the site settings right now today:
Here is what this image tells me. I have thought about a total of 53 blog posts (actually 54 as this post is not saved into that list yet). I have successfully posted 10 of those. There are 43 ideas, started posts, or placeholders. That means if I get stuck on something I have 43 opportunities to get excited and interested in a topic all over again. From a data standpoint, I am generating 5.4 ideas for every one that gets posted. I think I just came up with my second blog metric! The first metric is a goal to post 2 posts per week. For a second metric I think I am going to target 3 ideas per week. That means that my pool of ideas should continue to grow faster than what I can actually write up to post about and should always give me plenty of topics to dive into if I hit writers block on something.
As for the milestone this morning, I would like to thank the individual, computer, bot, or other (not assuming gender, sentience, or anything else here!) who checked out the blog from Delhi, India last night! As I have not posted anywhere nor shared this blog with anyone yet, that is pretty impressive! I did a google search and on the fourth page found a link to the previous site I had here which isn’t functional anymore.
So even through this started out as some random thoughts for the morning, I have come out of it with some new ideas, thoughts, and a big success. Not bad for a lazy Sunday morning!
Post outcomes:
- now that I am at the end of the post I realize I started by saying I didn’t know when it will be posted so I don’t feel like I can post this today. Do you ever hate when your internal anal retentive inclinations get in the way of a perfectly good blog post?
- I now have 2 new metrics to capture (thought of another one here at the end of the post) on top of the 2 posts/week. Post ideas/week and percentage of the unique users to worlds population that has seen this blog.
- I have an idea for a new site page. As metrics and feedback are big components of Engineering Management I want to follow-through on the metrics that I capture, and thus a new page idea is born and I will be creating a draft of it so that I don’t forget the idea.
- I have at least one new idea from this. The standing desk phenomenon. Yes, very random, but I started this post sitting in my chair, got up to check out the dogs making noise and am standing to finish it. Just remember, new ideas and insights can come from anywhere at any time. Always be ready!
- Success that the first non-me user has seen the blog! Thanks random person!
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