Learning about agile methodologies has had an effect on how I view many aspects of my life. Prioritizing the high value items, working incrementally towards goals, and having a shared vision with those around you are good things to remember regardless of what you are doing. If I know this so well, then how come I haven’t applied this knowledge to blogging?
Analysis Paralysis
For as much as I know about splitting apart complex systems into complete and independent User Stories, I get way too caught up in what I want my blog to be. I think about my writing style, tying articles together into series, what books I’m reading, tag clouds, archives, comments, syntax highlighting, semantic HTML, SASS/CSS, unobtrusive JavaScript, minification, SEO, Twitter, LinkedIn, SlideShare ….
I don’t know if I should start with blogger or WordPress or the plethora of other blogging software that has a lot of my concerns already taken care of. I worry that those packages have weight that I just don’t want or need. Surely I could build something better that suits my needs and that I could be proud of!
The thought of a blog has been rolling around in my head for a dozen years - before the term "blog" was mainstream - maybe even invented! I remember because my oldest children weren’t born yet. In 2007, I finally registered my domain name. Since then, I have been paying for web hosting on a site that shows nothing! (That’s not entirely true, for about six months, I had a WordPress site with a few F# articles - but they’re all gone now.)
It’s not that I lack for things to write about, either. I have a plethora of writings, at various stages of thought that are scattered in files across my hard drive, in EverNote, and even e-mails to myself.
But I haven’t committed to blogging yet. Why?
Fear
I plan on putting ideas out there in the public forum. What if people don’t find value in what I write? What if I’m just more noise on the Internet? What if somebody doesn’t agree with me? What if people read my views and decide that they don’t like me? What if I’m shown to be wrong? And of course, what if none of these questions get answered because nobody reads this?
Enlightenment
I’m sure that I am not alone in these fears.
I’m also pretty sure that the sort of feedback that I am afraid to get is the sort of feedback that I will learn the most from. And if people don’t agree with me, then we can start a dialog, and then we can all grow. If I’m wrong about something, I’ll eat crow and learn. These are all good things.
If it turns out that I’m not adding value to the Internet or if people decide they don’t like my views, then oh well! I have already decided that I will continue. If for no other reason than I want to. Because ultimately, that’s what this is about. Me!
Minimally Viable
So I’m going to start putting into practice those things that I know. I’m going to start small and see how this evolves. I’m not going to worry about colors or layout or routes or SEO or syntax highlighting or any of that other stuff. That will come. And when it does, I’ll blog about it.