Next week, I'm heading to Santa Clara for a few days of "big data" at the O'Reilly Strata Conference. I'm really looking forward to it, and expect to have my mind blown several times over. I'm on the program committee for the conference, though I joined late and missed the chance to review proposals, so I'll be coming at it with pretty fresh eyes. The illustration above is from a recent Economist issue dedicated to the subject -- according to the article, worldwide data production has increased nearly tenfold in the past 5 years. It's really hard to fathom the scope of this increase, and I'm excited to spend a few days with a group of people who are at the cutting edge of understanding and managing this space. It seems clear to me that manipulating massive amounts of data is one of the next great skills. A few months ago, Andrew Parker wrote a post (quoting Zed Shaw) that really stuck with me -- the gist of which is that programming is a great "secret weapon" to apply to your work in another field. I totally agree. So, I'll add that manipulating big data -- a sub of programming in some ways, but an independent field in others -- should be part of every rising undergrad's toolkit. If I could press rewind on my life, there's no question that I'd add computer science (with a focus on data and stats) as a minor area of study, and use it to supercharge my major. I will definitely be posting quotes and photos from the conference at The Exobrain.
As part of my goals for 2011, I'm trying to blog more regularly -- once a week, right here, to be precise. As I mentioned, I don't quite have the rhythm down yet. This is evidenced by the fact that I'm sitting in bed at 11:30pm on Sunday night writing this half-assed post, just so that I can get it in before the week ends... So, in order to stick to my guns and my schedule, here's a bit of a cop out, in the form of a brief list of things I've been thinking about and want to get down on paper at some point soon:
The Enterprise End-Run -- servicing enterprise users without working with enterprise clients.
Where OpenPlans is headed -- what's on tap for 2011.
Listening to the Internet -- if you feel like no one is talking to you, chances are you're wrong; you're just not listening correctly.
There's a man in my inbox! -- it's all about the inbox, and I want a little man in there helping me out every day.
My dad's start up story -- thirty-two years ago, my father started a company from nothing, and is still in business today.
The adjacent possible -- why this is such a neat way of thinking about new ideas.
There are a handful of other ideas swimming in my head soup as well, and I will try and keep those flowing to the Exobrain in near real-time. And, with that, I will hit publish and see you next week.
I love the new year. It's a so nice to have a time where a) pretty much everyone takes a break for a few weeks and b) you get to magically clean the slate and start fresh. Rest, and a new start. Awesome. For the past few years, I've been writing down my goals for the coming year at the turn of the year. It feels good to do, and it's always amazing to look back at what you thought your year was going to be like, especially a year or two down the road. This year, I'm going to take it a step further and put some goals down in public, here. Is suppose this is a bit self-indulgent, and maybe not super insightful, so feel free to stop reading right now. Else, without further adieu, here's what I'm looking forward to in 2011:
Blogging more -- I like blogging here, but still don't have a great routine for fitting it in. I have a backlog of posts that I'm slowly working through, and then I'd like to be a bit more real-time. My intention is to blog once a week. Once I hit publish, I'll be one-for-one ;)
Getting and staying healthy -- 2010 was a weird year, with some unexpected health issues. It turns out I am not superman and I am going to have to work a bit harder at being healthy -- which means more exercise (hard) and healthier eating (super hard).
Getting "all the way there" at work -- it's been an amazing few years at OpenPlans, and a particularly interesting 2010. Last year, we (meaning my corner of OpenPlans, called Civic Works) went from practically zero revenue to booking nearly $1.5mm -- in the context of losing our primary funding source due to the effects of the LimeWire lawsuit. This year, we make it or we don't -- taking what we've built thus far, shaping it up right and making it sustainable. It's going to be fun, and I'm happy to say that we're starting out the new year by hiring some incredible new people who will help us make it happen.
Planning ahead -- this is a perennial item on the list, and one that I'm getting better at, but still not all the way there. I'm busy -- we're all busy -- and my achilles heel is focusing too much on the near term. I'm good at (or maybe just lucky?) pulling things together close to the last minute, but it doesn't feel great and it's probably not healthy (for me personally, or for my colleagues).
Those are the biggies. The interesting thing to me, as I look at these and think back on prior years, is how long it takes to change. You can't change overnight. You have to work at it. So on the one hand, it's incredibly slow; but on the other, it's always surprising to see real change once it's happened. So, see you later 2010; it was nice knowing you. Hey there, 2011; let's be friends.
Next week, I'm heading to Santa Clara for a few days of "big data" at the O'Reilly Strata Conference. I'm really looking forward to it, and expect to have my mind blown several times over. I'm on the program committee for the conference, though I joined late and missed the chance to review proposals, so I'll be coming at it with pretty fresh eyes. The illustration above is from a recent Economist issue dedicated to the subject -- according to the article, worldwide data production has increased nearly tenfold in the past 5 years. It's really hard to fathom the scope of this increase, and I'm excited to spend a few days with a group of people who are at the cutting edge of understanding and managing this space. It seems clear to me that manipulating massive amounts of data is one of the next great skills. A few months ago, Andrew Parker wrote a post (quoting Zed Shaw) that really stuck with me -- the gist of which is that programming is a great "secret weapon" to apply to your work in another field. I totally agree. So, I'll add that manipulating big data -- a sub of programming in some ways, but an independent field in others -- should be part of every rising undergrad's toolkit. If I could press rewind on my life, there's no question that I'd add computer science (with a focus on data and stats) as a minor area of study, and use it to supercharge my major. I will definitely be posting quotes and photos from the conference at The Exobrain.
As part of my goals for 2011, I'm trying to blog more regularly -- once a week, right here, to be precise. As I mentioned, I don't quite have the rhythm down yet. This is evidenced by the fact that I'm sitting in bed at 11:30pm on Sunday night writing this half-assed post, just so that I can get it in before the week ends... So, in order to stick to my guns and my schedule, here's a bit of a cop out, in the form of a brief list of things I've been thinking about and want to get down on paper at some point soon:
The Enterprise End-Run -- servicing enterprise users without working with enterprise clients.
Where OpenPlans is headed -- what's on tap for 2011.
Listening to the Internet -- if you feel like no one is talking to you, chances are you're wrong; you're just not listening correctly.
There's a man in my inbox! -- it's all about the inbox, and I want a little man in there helping me out every day.
My dad's start up story -- thirty-two years ago, my father started a company from nothing, and is still in business today.
The adjacent possible -- why this is such a neat way of thinking about new ideas.
There are a handful of other ideas swimming in my head soup as well, and I will try and keep those flowing to the Exobrain in near real-time. And, with that, I will hit publish and see you next week.
I love the new year. It's a so nice to have a time where a) pretty much everyone takes a break for a few weeks and b) you get to magically clean the slate and start fresh. Rest, and a new start. Awesome. For the past few years, I've been writing down my goals for the coming year at the turn of the year. It feels good to do, and it's always amazing to look back at what you thought your year was going to be like, especially a year or two down the road. This year, I'm going to take it a step further and put some goals down in public, here. Is suppose this is a bit self-indulgent, and maybe not super insightful, so feel free to stop reading right now. Else, without further adieu, here's what I'm looking forward to in 2011:
Blogging more -- I like blogging here, but still don't have a great routine for fitting it in. I have a backlog of posts that I'm slowly working through, and then I'd like to be a bit more real-time. My intention is to blog once a week. Once I hit publish, I'll be one-for-one ;)
Getting and staying healthy -- 2010 was a weird year, with some unexpected health issues. It turns out I am not superman and I am going to have to work a bit harder at being healthy -- which means more exercise (hard) and healthier eating (super hard).
Getting "all the way there" at work -- it's been an amazing few years at OpenPlans, and a particularly interesting 2010. Last year, we (meaning my corner of OpenPlans, called Civic Works) went from practically zero revenue to booking nearly $1.5mm -- in the context of losing our primary funding source due to the effects of the LimeWire lawsuit. This year, we make it or we don't -- taking what we've built thus far, shaping it up right and making it sustainable. It's going to be fun, and I'm happy to say that we're starting out the new year by hiring some incredible new people who will help us make it happen.
Planning ahead -- this is a perennial item on the list, and one that I'm getting better at, but still not all the way there. I'm busy -- we're all busy -- and my achilles heel is focusing too much on the near term. I'm good at (or maybe just lucky?) pulling things together close to the last minute, but it doesn't feel great and it's probably not healthy (for me personally, or for my colleagues).
Those are the biggies. The interesting thing to me, as I look at these and think back on prior years, is how long it takes to change. You can't change overnight. You have to work at it. So on the one hand, it's incredibly slow; but on the other, it's always surprising to see real change once it's happened. So, see you later 2010; it was nice knowing you. Hey there, 2011; let's be friends.
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