I find that if I commit to things in writing, they have a much higher chance of getting done. And if I commit to them in writing on the Internet where everybody in the world can see it, even though I realize that nobody in the world cares, it gives me even more motivation to follow through. So with that in mind, I’ve been posting my annual resolutions to my blog, and in 2009 I resolved to do the following:

1. Get In Shape(190 pounds, Biking, Hiking). Result:Fail(same weight as a year ago, went biking twice, no hiking). Could be much worse, I suppose, but I’m not as fit as I’d like to be, as usual.
2. Speak Locally (6 for year). Result:Success. In fact, I helped organize a local software craftsmanship group in Hudson, Ohio where I’m essentially speaking monthly now, along with my fellow craftsmen.
3. Take a Real Vacation. Result:Success. Actually managed a trip to North Carolina with the in-laws last summer. One of the few trips I’ve made that didn’t involve a speaking engagement in the last 5 years.
4. Blogging (200 posts for year). Result:Fail. My FeedBurner readership is up to around 1300 now, from maybe 1000 a year ago, so that’s certainly a marginal improvement (thanks for subscribing, by the way). But the fact that I wasn’t able to spend as much time on coding as I’d have liked cut into my blogging activities (and often I’lljust tweet something quickly rather than devote time to a full blog post). I think maybe this year my goal will focus more on the quality of the posts than the quantity, though I do think some consistent volume of posts is important for a successful blog/blogger. My total posts for 2009 ended up being only 101 (and I actually didn’t post once in November – it was a very busy month).

Interestingly, some of my most popular blog posts in 2009 weren’t particularly related to software development, but often are simply common tasks or problems that I’ve posted a solution for.

Other Goals

I did manage to get another kata down in my karate training, and probably halfway through the next one I need to get my brown belt. If I can continue working with my current sensei, I do expect that I could earn my brown belt in 2010. And I’m still way behind on uploading photos to Flickr, but I did get a lot of them done last year. My business goals included improving ASPAlliance.com, moving our offices to Hudson, remodeling the Hudson office space, adding clients to our agile consulting business, and starting a local software development user group. All of those got done except for ASPAlliance.com, which could still use some love.

I’ll post some goals for 2010 soon, hopefully.