CB Continuous Blogging: Not what it sounds like
When I say “continuous”, my context is “continuous integration” type of continuous. Not the “non-stop” style of continuous.
“Continuous Integration” (from the point of view of the server) is based on the idea that when - something - changes (code, operating system updates, environment variables, etc) - a new build should be kicked off to ensure that after these last changes, the code still builds and tests (which do exist, right??) still pass. If nothing changes, then a build shouldn’t be kicked off - why would it? Builds don’t pass/fail in a vacuum.
The rails, and going off them
My post frequency has unfortunately gone off the rails over the last year. What I originally wanted to be an ‘occasional’ blog back in 2012, then turned into a semi-regular set of posts, then turned into regular posting, and has recently turned into a ‘barely every now and then’ post schedule.
This trend isn’t due to lack of interest, or lack of desire, but a perceived lack of time. As my business grows, it leaves me with a bit less time to tackle some of my fun side-projects (e.g. this blog). I could probably squeeze in some content - but I’d rather not post an article without the associated GitHub codebase and clear, in-depth, technical explanation vs hammering out content I’m not happy with.
I do have a huuuuuge backlog of long-form content to write about, and I’ll need to find some time somewhere to lay those out.
In the meantime, though, every week I’m also meeting with all these really amazing companies, working on some incredibly nerdy projects, and talking to super intelligent people about yet more cool tech or productivity tips or whatever. Along the way, there are really useful tidbits of info that come across, and it doesn’t seem fair to keep these to myself.
At the same time, I never post them because I tend to stick with longer, more involved content (from the content-creation side anyways, it takes hours/days to setup some code, write the apps, test out combinations/permutations, etc - and that might all become just a 300 word post with some code). For example, I went to CES the other week for the first time, and I was also an exhibitor - I learned a bunch of stuff, but wasn’t planning to write about it because it would just be a handful of bullet points.
What next?
So, where do I go from here? Well… I’m curious if I could do something similar to CI for blogging. I don’t think I could keep up with legendary Seth Godin’s daily blogs, as I don’t have anything technical to say that often. What about weekly? I suppose I could - but as soon as I miss a week, that would cause me to miss another week, and so on.
Instead, what if I just wrote quick, short, un-edited braindumps about anything of interest that happened that day or that week? So long as I think there might be some value to someone about something (typically staying in my technical content or productivity wheelhouses).
As far as my longer, more involved technical posts? Well, my selfish reason for doing this is the hope that writing begets writing.
BTW: For anyone on my mailing list, I’m going to be turning off my auto-emailer - just so I don’t send out at a frequency that feels like spam.