I’m sad I got mad with Katharine, it was a silly trivial thing that didn’t need to happen.
Glad that we talked about it and made good.
Glad that the surge of effort (I worked pretty late) to crack the twitter request functions of ServiceChat was successful
Glad I decided to use sferik’s twitter gem as readymade classes, saved me a whole lot of hair pulling!
I’m tired but content. I’m In.
Achievements Since Last Retro
Completed major refactor of chat provisioning from twitter
How The Trello Board Now Looks
I Learned…
My plan for was hugely over-ambitious.
Capistrano can be a muthafucka!
I Loved…
Riding the wave of options that emerged by using the Twitter gem, working with (rather than against) the design that emerged was a total delight.
I’m Grateful For…
The open source community – I’m hugely proud of this community that I am a small part of, the sharing of ideas and the acceptance of each other’s abilities (or lack thereof).
The main push today is to get ServiceChat hosts being able to request from Twitter. This is currently the biggest differentiator from other products out there. It is the simplest, fastest and most unobtrusive mechanism I have seen. it just works (well at least it did in ChittyChat!).
I’m going to start by running all the tests and making them pass, then comes the tricky bit.
ServiceChat has a modified model (based on billable customers and approved hosts) and this needs to be injected into the design. So I’ll have to write tests for them too.
But!! Today is the first day in a 3-day fiesta in Pinos del Valle and I’m taking an extended lunch to participate in the diversiónes!
I’m glad that just after my entry yesterday, I was able to knuckle down (aided by some wine) and fix my issues.
I’m sad that, as a result, I went to bed pretty early in the morning and so today was tiring.
I’m glad that I spent time with my wife, having coffee and catching up in the sunshine.
I’m excited that my WordPress blog site for ServiceChat is almost completely styled and ready for beta soon.
I’m excited at the options that emerged to run ServiceChat app with its blog – making life much easier for me.
I’m glad I pushed myself to exercise even though it was pretty late.
I’m afraid about the challenges that lie ahead and whether I will get through them.
I’m glad that right now I feel I can.
I’m in.
Achievements Since Last Retro
ServiceChat chat is completed and ready to rock!
Blab.by – the pub/sub platform I wrote for ServiceChat is completely refactored. and is more robust, stable and faster!
I Learned…
How to optimise WordPress and a whole heap of DevOps know how.
People are a bundle of stories and it is always worth it to have the conversation.
I Loved…
Stopping for 45 minutes to have a long conversation with a stranger on the street, helping them feel better and helping myself make a new friend.
Trying to help a friend with some empathy and thinking round a personal challenge.
I’m Grateful For…
Broadband , which spelt forwards spells ‘FREEDOM’
Next Desired Outcomes
In-chat invite functionality ported to ServiceChat
Basic info pages sketched out
Two hours of language study (I think it’s going to be a 6am start)
I’m mad that I’ve spent most of today on two of the functional bits that should just work but don’t. With really important customer discovery effectively paused until I can get the ServiceChat beta site up, I’m seething that something I can’t identify is toying with me. Arrgghh – frustrating!
I’m glad that I’m physically feeling pretty great.
I’m excited at the blog posts that are being worked on by my buddy Amit Jaspal.
I’m in. Big time.
Achievements Since Last Retro
Still breathing.
Refactored my chat server to be cleaner and faster.
I Learned…
Knowledge is not the pure domain of the experts.
It’s ok to build something because you have a need (better if you can validate that others have similar need and willing to pay for it)
I Loved…
Every moment of today, even the mad bits.
I’m Grateful For…
My sons – who remind me that life is not startups and tech.
Lately I have been feeling very bloated. I don’t mean overweight (I am a little), but mentally bloated – with distractions, ideas, fears and schemes to allay fears. But during a week in the UK visiting my daughters I had the opportunity to have some headspace and to retrospect and I found the determination for renewed discipline to finding the focus I desperately need.
One of my greatest strengths is the ease I have in having ideas, however I find that execution is difficult for me – yet I enjoy trying to go beyond the idea to the the product and beyond still, to a thriving business around the product.
As you may know , I am spending most of 2013 in Spain, working on my startup. I am working on building a business currently called ServiceChat – which is aimed at helping online businesses enhance their customers’ experience and their business brand perception through deeper customer engagement.
But focus has been eluding me since my family and I got here. A number of ‘other’ things have distracted me – Wizetrader (my automated forex trading Expert Advisor), this blog, twitter, my family settling in, improving my Spanish and also trying to improve my wellbeing through exercise and meditation. All the while trying to build my startup – ServiceChat.
Something has to give – either I focus or I forget the whole thing. The former is essential and the latter is not going to happen.
My 3 Things for 2013
I had a good chat with myself and we agreed that this year is about 3 fundamental things.
The Startup Focus on customer discovery and development, find early adopter customers, get some funding, learn and build what my customers want.
Get Conversational in Spanish We came to Spain to enjoy the country, to immerse ourselves in it. Language is a huge part of that immersion and experience and that is why this is important.
Improve my Wellbeing I’m precious to myself, to my family and to the world. I have to take better care of my entire wellbeing. This means making time for exercise, improving my physical fitness (and yes, lose some weight), learning to be still and making time to play with my family.
That is it – everything else not directly connected with any of these is out. This means:
Less Twitter and more @buffer (now made easier with my app @bufferdm);
Make my trial routine permanent (more on this soon);
Measure how I’m doing daily (make short term goals and track how I’m doing against them).
I Need Your Help.
I plan to retrospect on my daily experience around 10:30pm Central European Time everyday except Saturdays. Following my daily retrospective, I will re-plan and set my goals for the coming day.
I commit to write a short blog post on what learnings and improvements I have made and the plan for the next day.
Please check to see I have and ask me about it if I haven’t.
Practically, this really means watch out for a tweet from me announcing the blog post (it goes out automatically on a post – hurray for WordPress).
You should expect it around 11pm (Central European Time). I would love if you would then glance over the retro post and if you think its flakey – please talk to me about it! I promise to keep it concise and digestable (and who knows, you might even find some of what I learn valuable for something you are involved in).
It would mean a huge amount to me if you could help me to find and sustain the discipline I need to focus. I would be delighted to do the same for you.
