I started writing this blog a couple of years ago with the intention of posting once or twice a week.  I wanted to share thoughts coming specifically out of my work as a product owner developing and selling software that enables users to manage their financial risks.  I wanted to share things I was learning both at my job and through the reading and thinking I did on Agile, Kanban, Lean and other aspects of product management.  And I hoped that just maybe I could contribute to or even help shape the conversation around product development both in my firm and more broadly in the industry.

There have been some successes in this effort.  For much of the past few years I have been able to post regularly – more like every 10 days than once or twice a week, although I posted every day for a two-week sprint at one point.  I have heard from some folks how much they appreciate my posts – some people I work with and other total strangers over Twitter.  And the writing I’ve done has helped me grow my own thinking.

There have been struggles as well.  As my role at work has evolved a bit it has been tougher to post regularly; since my previous editor left the company it has been harder to fully polish my thoughts and so several potential postings have been stuck in the ‘draft’ status for months.  And while I have gotten some positive feedback on my writing there have been others who’ve told me I’m wasting my time.  All of this has led to a major decline in the frequency with which I am posting here.

At the same time, I have continued to enjoy thinking and talking about product development and Agile.  I’ve read lots of interesting books, blogs, and articles.  And I’ve expanded the set of things that I want to write about.

So as I look into next year I plan to re-invigorate this blog and expand its content to include some of my other interests.  I’ve already changed the look of the blog a bit and I may make further modifications.  Once I have a little more clarity on what I plan to do, I will share my thoughts about it here.  But I can tell you to expect a few things:

1. Posts will become more regular again
2. Posts will often be shorter and (unfortunately) a bit less polished as I try to get more thoughts out there more quickly rather than editing my posts as thoroughly (so please be gentle dear reader with the typos I make and any diminished clarity and PLEASE leave comments or questions if you think I’ve misstated something in my future posts)
3. I will write about more topics, including things like what I’m reading about and listening to or ideas on leadership
4. I will share more links about things I’ve found on the inter-webs – so please feel free to point me to your favorite blogs on the topics I write about and I will be happy to repost or comment on them in my own blog
5. I will finally finish the ’10 aspects of Agile planning’ blog series that I started many months ago (more on this in my next post)

I hope all of this will be interesting and even useful.  I still hope to add to and influence the conversation about Agile product development even as I also write about other things.  And I love to know that these words aren’t getting lost in the internet so please let me know if you’re reading these posts.

No matter what I’m writing about, I’ll continue to share my thoughts, questions, struggles and issues as I seek to learn more.  All opinions will continue to be my own and open for discussion because in truth it’s not that simple.