This Focused Performance Weblog is a "business management blog" containing links and commentary related primarily to organizational effectiveness with a "Theory of Constraints" perspective. TOC is noted for its applications in Project Management and Multi-Project Management (Critical Chain) and Operations Management (Drum-Buffer-Rope), as well as in Marketing, Strategic Planning and Change Management (TOC Thinking Processes). If you are on an archive page, current postings are found here.
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Five Years Ago Today -- The first postings of what my Blogger dashboard tells me are 1075 Focused Performance posts. Revisiting that day's blog entries...
The "egroup" email discussion group on Critical Chain-based Project Management has since morphed into its home on yahoo.groups. One of the best things I've done, it remains a vital and active community with over 900 members and 2776 messages, 78 of which were in the most recent holiday-laden month.
The article on "The Physics of Gridlock", has disappeared behind a pay wall at Atlantic Monthly, but is mirrored at Drivers.com.
And most of my Unconstrained Thinking pieces have found their way into individual blog posts in the last five years.
Looking back, this weblog was initially set up to promote myself as a thought leader and resource in the realm of TOC and Critical Chain-based Project Management in an effort to drum up business for my 1996-2004 Focused Performance consulting practice. It evolved from a slow start of mainly link-and-brief-comment posts to some "serious" stuff in the form of larger essays and series, and (as I rejoined the world of regular paychecks and group health insurance at DigitalGrit, and had less of a need to show off my expertise) back to a mode of primarily link-and-comment postings.
One of the best things I've gotten out of the experience is that I've developed too many online "blog-buddies" to mention here and now. If you're a regular reader, you've met them as well. And beyond the Joes, Hals, Clarkes and others, I'll never forget the experience of giving presentations in places as far away as Saskatchewan and Hong Kong, and having audience members come up to mention that they've read my stuff online.
Along the way, I've "monetized" the effort by recommending books through an Amazon affiliate program, and by adding some Google ads. Thanks to all that clicked the ads that caught their interest and bought books (and other stuff) via my Amazon links.
And bit over three years ago, I also launched Unfocused, my "personal" blog, a highlight of which was my October 2004 China trip journal among other non-management issues and interests. (Watch that space for another travel journal in March as Lois and I get deeper into China via a trip that will take us to Pingyao, Wolong, Chengdu, and Leshan.)
Inputs for blog ideas have grown with the ubiquity of RSS feeds and my collection of feeds on Bloglines. An my del.icio.us account has accumulated embarrassing riches of blogfodder awaiting a resurgence in my time, energy, and incentive for blog posting.
In 2006, I'm definitely going to be moving servers for and redesigning the Focused Performance site (since it's original purpose as promotion for my consulting is no longer needed), and very probably making a switch from Blogger to WordPress as a platform for the blog. (Do I move Blogger to WordPress or just maintain the old Blogger-based stuff as an archive so that old links aren't broken? Probably the latter.)
I'm also toying with the idea of playing with podcasting, but don't hold your breath for anything on a regularly scheduled basis.
The question remains as to whether I use WordPress' category function to blend the Focused Performance and Unfocused blogs or maintain the wall between my personal and professional lives. My ego is tempted to throw my political and cultural thoughts in front of the larger management audience attracted to the Focused Performance blog, encouraging me to write more thoughtfully on them, but right now, odds are that I'll maintain the distinction so as not to alienate the original audience. (Input on this from my readers is more than welcome.)
Anyway, the first five years of this public writing have definitely started me on something that will continue. As one of my favorite philosophers, Buckaroo Banzai once said, "Wherever you go, there you are."
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