Why Blog?

So far, I'm obligated for quite a bit ...

A) I want to describe blue man group, and how that might impact our communcation
B) Discuss possible ways to contribute to software development, and then what I plan on doing next (my next big thing)
C) I'd like to talk about why I'm blogging, and why you might want to read it
D) I want to talk about the cult of stability in software development

... and other interesting things keep coming up that delay that.

So, anyway, something interesting happened to me today. Luckily, it ties in with (C).

My main goal of the blog is to cover some new ground - to talk about some things that aren't in the text books yet are important. Yes, virginia, there really is career advice beyond silly cliches and Going Into Management. Yes, writing and communicating is extremely important in software development; in fact, it's a skill, and it can be improved with effort, direction, peer norms, and advice.

Yes, it is possible to run a software conference, speak at one, or write a magazine article. The process of coming up with ideas and running events shouldn't be shrouded in mystery; instead, I'd like to write about that.

The same goes for the dynamics of what actually happens on software projects.

So, here's the interesting thing that happened to me: Addison-Wesley asked me to review eight chapters of a book proposal. It's a book in the review process; they've essentially asked the author to write a first draft and he turned it in.

I asked AW if I could blog about the experience, and they said yes.

So - would you like to find out what it's like to review book proposals? I've placed two chapters on the web; one of the ones that I felt was strong and one of the weaker ones. They are chapter 0 (the introduction or preface) and chapter 4 ("the right stuff") - The book is on teamwork in software development and the author is Jim Brosseau.

The chapters are here and here.

We could do this double-blind and compare notes. If you're really interested, let me know, I'll throw up the book reviewer form or something.

...

Whew. Long, rambling post, but of the four things I'd like to do, I hope I just covered (C) ....