One of the reasons I maintain that my International Relations degree is better than somebody else’s Computer Science degree is because in International Relations, we are constantly encouraged to undertake some “thought experiments” on a more formal basis; if you work for one of the various government institutions that are part of the government (or support them), like the Department of State or Department of Defense or one of the various intelligence agencies, you are often called upon to imagine a particular scenario, postulate what the immediate results would be, and then present what the President and/or US government should do in such a situation.

If you’ve been a long-time reader of this blog, you’ve seen me go through a few “pivots” over the last decade or two. One thing I’ve wrestled with here is the degree to which I write about technology and the process of developing software, as opposed to the (up until now, much more muted) conversations about matters more personal and/or non-“professional”. There’s a lot of different things I’ve thought about writing in the past, and chose not to because… well, because they didn’t really fit with the professional branding I was going after.

It’s that time of the year again, when I make predictions for the upcoming year. As has become my tradition now for nigh-on a decade, I will first go back over last years' predictions, to see how well I called it (and keep me honest), then wax prophetic on what I think the new year has to offer us.

It’s that time of the year again, when I make predictions for the upcoming year. As has become my tradition now for nigh-on a decade, I will first go back over last years' predictions, to see how well I called it (and keep me honest), then wax prophetic on what I think the new year has to offer us.

It’s that time of the year again, when I make predictions for the upcoming year. As has become my tradition now for nigh-on a decade, I will first go back over last years' predictions, to see how well I called it (and keep me honest), then wax prophetic on what I think the new year has to offer us.

It’s that time of year again… well, actually, a few days late, but I’ve been busy, I swear. As has become my tradition now for nigh-on a decade, I will first go back over last years’ predictions, to see how well I called it (and keep me honest), then wax prophetic on what I think the new year has to offer us.

As per previous years, I’m giving myself either a +1 or a -1 based on a purely subjective and highly-biased evaluational criteria as to whether it actually happened (or in some cases at least started to happen before 31 Dec 2018 ended). And, to be fair, while I only posted the 2018 predictions a few days ago (I hadn’t realized it, but my CI system for the blog was down, which goes to show you, it helps to verify your CI system every so often), I actually wrote it a year ago, so it’s still legit.

It’s that time of year again… well, actually, a few days late, but I’ve been busy, I swear. As has become my tradition now for nigh-on a decade, I will first go back over last years’ predictions, to see how well I called it (and keep me honest), then wax prophetic on what I think the new year has to offer us.

As per previous years, I’m giving myself either a +1 or a -1 based on a purely subjective and highly-biased evaluational criteria as to whether it actually happened (or in some cases at least started to happen before 31 Dec 2017 ended).

tl;dr By now, everybody has heard of the memo that was passed around by the Google-bro, claiming that Google should reduce its efforts at explicit diversity hiring and how his message was unwelcome within Google’s halls; my reaction is that he had a small point, but it was drowned in the inanity of his larger, and far more incorrect, message.

For many years, I’ve quietly mentored a few speakers in the industry. Nothing big, nothing formal, just periodically I’d find somebody that wanted to get in front of audiences and speak, and either they’d ask me some questions or I’d get the feeling that they were open to some suggestions, and things would sort of go from there. Now, as I start to wind down my speaking career (some), I thought I’d post some ideas and suggestions I’ve had over the years.

This time, it’s about humor. Or the lack thereof.

For many years, I’ve quietly mentored a few speakers in the industry. Nothing big, nothing formal, just periodically I’d find somebody that wanted to get in front of audiences and speak, and either they’d ask me some questions or I’d get the feeling that they were open to some suggestions, and things would sort of go from there. Now, as I start to wind down my speaking career (some), I thought I’d post some ideas and suggestions I’ve had over the years.