Getting back to blogging.

Long absences deserve an explanation.  Being a blogger while holding down a full-time job as a technology leader requires a significant time commitment.  Blogs need to be written and promoted via social media.  The twenty-four-seven media cycle is ravenous, and keeping it fed is exhausting.  It makes me wonder how more successful internet influences can keep pace.  Today, on my blog, I feel I should explain my absence. 

I have been offline for seven weeks.  During that time, I moved from my old house to a forever home with someone I wished to grow old with.  Picking up your life and consolidating with someone else is hard, given the most ideal circumstances.  In my case, my partner and I each had to sell a home and pool our possessions.  It was a feast of riches regarding cookware, but it was a hassle getting it from our storage units into our home.  Additionally, we had a COVID-appropriate holiday with family and friends.  All the while, we were both working full-time and unpacking boxes.  Something had to give, and my blogging had to wait while I unpacked and developed a new routine.  

I am still unpacking but settled enough to start writing seriously again.  The last seven weeks were a spectacle of poor leadership, resentment, grievance, and outright rebellion.  I feel compelled to comment on it, but I will keep my promise to avoid commentary like this because much better discussion exists on the political left and right.  My opinions will not provide any more additional illumination to the current cultural or political situation.  I can contribute my experience and wisdom relating to project and product leadership.  It is what I dedicated most of my life to understanding.  

The intermission has allowed me to think about how I will approach my little slice of the internet in 2021. I would like to concentrate on the basics of agile. Each week, I want to discuss the basics of agile, from the daily scrum to backlog coaching and refinement to the standard of care. We will cover one of these topics each week and provide my readers with a foundation to build their own agile practice. 

The agile reformation is entering its twentieth year. I have been part of it since 2009. I have learned a few things along the way, and this year, I will commit to sharingre that wisdom with you.

Until next time.