A great time last night … why not join us?

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Posted on August 17, 2012 by Bruce Stewart Posted as Blogosphere News

Last night was the gathering held to celebrate this year’s Blogging Idol. I had a great time.

It was a real treat to meet people whose posts I’d admired and commented on in person and start the process of getting to know them, not just their words.

We all also got to take part in a vibrant discussion about this community of writers and commenters, and the larger community of IT professionals it serves. (That great silent majority, the “readers”.)

You know, a single comment can not only be insightful, it can change things for one of those readers. It can send their career into a new and (for them) better trajectory, it can stop them from recommending something that they’d be blamed for later, it can get them in a better position in their work.

A comment, of course, can also be a question. I know when I write a post I’m coming back every day or two to see who’s raised a question, because I love answering them. I know I’m not alone in that!

Writing a whole post, when you’ve never done it, can be hard. I know people like me can intimidate with a Niagara of words tumbling out. But a comment or a question is something anyone can do.

In our discussion last night, we all agreed that we want our community to grow and be vibrant — to become essential to all of us in and around IT. We can do our part by putting the first words there (and if you’ve got a hankering to throw your ideas out there, we’d love you to join us — I know I don’t know everything and, despite years as a research advisor and as a consultant I’ve barely scratched the surface of all the different situations and challenges my peers in IT face daily).

Start with a comment or a question. It’s the best way we know to be invited to come out for good times, good food, good brew and good conversation — and the best way to help your own career grow and prosper.

Bruce Stewart Bruce Stewart (98 Posts)

Bruce Stewart is a 39 year veteran of IT management and above. He is an executive advisor serving CIOs and senior executives in areas of governance, strategy, complex architectural transitions, portfolio yield and value generation.


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  • DonSheppard

    I like what Business_Sitter said……

    I also like the idea of challenging the blogoshpere by asking a question.  We can use questions as topics, and each of us can provide our perspectives.

    I’d even start by asking the question:  What are the tricks to keeping current these days?  You said you have a bunch of sources on your RSS feed.   I tend to have lots of email alerts and I scan Twitter regularly for those I follow.  But its very hard to keep things organized and to file items intelligently.   

    • Bruce Stewart

      I think each of us has to use the vehicle that works for them. In other words, one size won’t fit everyone.

      I tend to star items in Google Reader that I’ll want to come back to. (I do a lot of my reading on my iPhone — and now my iPad — and so just using my laptop technique of “Print to PDF” to file it on my own drive and let Spotlight search it out later isn’t available.) I also keep a draft file lying around (Notes on the iOS devices, a TextEdit file on the MacBook) that I can throw a few words and a link into.

      I have generally good retention of information (alas, not always so good with names and faces, and I can never answer the question “what colour was she wearing?” after an hour or so) and find the making of a few notes is sufficient to make it “sticky” enough to work with clippings and a few words of notes.

      I don’t tend to use Twitter for anything other than article discovery, and so tend to limit Twitter use to when I’m on the laptop (print to PDF of the referred article). In this I know I’m not operating as many others would today, but I just didn’t find trying to follow enough people and live with Twitter in front of me all day long worked for me.

      As for RSS vs email, I prefer RSS to email when it’s available. I’ve got my inbound email down to a few messages a day now. Mostly that’s a preference to read when I have time to focus, rather than reacting to a ping.

      One other vehicle I use is podcasts — if I’m out and about, my earbuds are in. I can make notes while the podcast plays on my iPhone as needed.

  • DonSheppard

    Oh yes, I agree with the comments about the wrap party!  It was nice to chat and to bounce ideas around.

    Here’s to the next phase of writing regularly in the blogsphere!