Like last year, here is a reflection on what I did last year and looking forward to the next.
(in no particular order)
Wrote 6 blog posts.
Read a book on lean.Very nice read. Would recommend anyone wanting to know more about Lean
Attended Lean startup conference simulcast It was a day well spent. The more I read and learn about lean, more fascinated I am.
Participated in startup weekend. It was a blast. Got my adrenaline running like hasn’t happened in many years. Will absolutely do it again.
Hosted two architectural kata meetups.
Presentations…
Presented at at Greater Boston Selenium User group . My talk was on using selenium with BDD
Also gave a lightening talk at Boston Grails User group on Gradle
Continuing on the presentation theme, I was fairly regular on Toastmasters .Got a couple of speeches in and filled in other roles as well.
On technology front- tinkered with play and scala. Gave it a whirl. Didn’t get too far though.
Open source…
Released ! My project on Code coverage for functional testing using cobertura is now officially out in the wild.We did use it at work with eye-opening results, hasn’t made it to the mainstream yet.
(The project does need a much cooler name though)
Lean…
Between the book I read and the conference I attended- I really got into lean last year. Plan to learn more on that.
At work…
The automation framework project that I helped kick-start has now matured and is the basis for all of our automation needs and efforts.
Initiated bunch of changes on inefficiencies and improvements - mostly around QA. Our testing today is more effective and efficient today. Removed lots of waste and and oiled some parts of value stream.
Led the architecture an design for a new project which involves integration with Websphere Portal . Acted as a quasi- product owner drafting a road-map for the delivery of the project.
Got really serious with REST. Like- do it right and not simply as a servlet returning an XML
Deliberately – did not introduce any new technology at work . This was after getting feedback from the team that i was having them drink from the fire-hose by introducing so many technologies in a short period <grin/>
Restructured teams to better align to the growing needs of the team (no- I did not lay off people, but simply broke the teams into multiple scrum teams)
Hired one awesome engineer !
Misses ?
Did blog more than before, but would like to do a bit more (a post a month is my target).
Play\Scala- didn’t get to do as much as I wanted to
On reading- didn’t read as much and the books – I had planned , but did read a book on Lean- which was great ! , But could\should have read more.
Dropped the idea of pursuing mgmt course.
Did get to attend couple of conferences. Though I have dropped my visits to user groups- to maintain a better work-life balance.
Didn’t too much with Amazon cloud.Especially because we lost steam at work
Losing momentum on Architectural Kata meetup that I am hosting. I have reached out to Ted. Let’s see
Next year
I guess by now a pattern will emerge
Carry forward from previous years : Blog . Present . Toastmaster.
Technologies: Play. Scala. Git
Architectural kata : Let’s see.
Books: Started on Lean. and maybe after that Release it ?
At work, I am looking forward to a very exciting and challenging project. Have also started making inroads on technical debt. Should be fun.
Am also working to reduce technical debt.
I guess that’s it for now.
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