Why I blog

The other day, somebody asked me why I bother blogging. “It seems like an awful lot of work for little or no reward,” he said. “So why do it?”

He was assuming I have a choice!

Catharsis

For me, writing is primarily cathartic. I always have lots of ideas bouncing around my head, and I need some way to get them out before they drive me crazy. Right now, blogging is proving to be an excellent outlet, with some added side benefits.

Multi-disciplined fun

I’ve always loved to write, I enjoy designing and building web sites, and I like having my own platform for publishing some of my thoughts and opinions. Running my own blog lets me have fun with all these things at the same time.

Personal branding

I’m not sure about the term ‘personal branding’. It makes some of the things we do seem cold and calculated when they’re really not.

However, I admit there is a strong personal branding element to blogging. Hopefully mine will help people interested in hiring me find out a little more about me. Ideally it will also help me to keep in touch with people I’ve worked with in the past, letting them see what I’m up to, and what I’m thinking about.

Learning

I sometimes blog about things I’d like to know more about, as part of a learning process. Writing about something forces you to fact-find and organise your thoughts – and as my teachers always used to say: there’s nothing like getting something down ‘on paper’ if you want to commit it to memory.

Notebook

As my content builds up, I’m hoping it will start to serve me as a digital notebook I can access at any time, from just about anywhere. This will be particularly useful for recalling ideas I might be able to use on future projects.

> 140 chars

Last but not least, I tweet more than I blog, but sometimes I need more than 140 characters!

The role of the content curator

Last week I read an interesting post by Robert Scoble about how he was happy to remotely curate the Apple iPad event. The latter part of his post really got me thinking about content curation vs. content creation.

Robert (a.k.a. Scobleizer) is one of the most prolific curators of tech content around, and it’s perfectly possible to stay up-to-date on what’s happening in the tech world simply by checking his Twitter favourites. He has been creating content on his blog for years, but more recently he seems to be favouring his content curation activities, which are ramping up.
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What price for web design?

I’m always amazed by people who are surprised that a good web presence doesn’t come cheap. They seem shocked to learn the cost of a decent web site can run into thousands.

What must be borne in mind is the fact that a web site is the online shop-front for a business.
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Live iPhone 3GS 16GB Unboxing

It’s traditional to do an unboxing video when you get a new toy, especially if it’s from Apple. Here’s my first attempt. Sorry about my wife’s mocking laughter in the background.

I got my iPhone from Tesco Mobile. I have to say their service is superb. The woman who sold me mine was knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and very patient when I didn’t understand the tariff. Highly recommended!

Tech wishlist for 2010

I’ve been doing some thinking about what I’d like to see happen in tech in 2010. A couple of these are pretty much guaranteed already. The others are, well … pure fantasy.
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Why developers can’t test

It’s well known in software testing circles that developers (formerly known as programmers) can’t test. Testers often make jokes about this – but that’s okay, developers make jokes about us too, so we’re even.

The question is: is there truth behind this pervasive myth? The confusing answer is: yes and no.
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Heading for the cloud

I’ve wanted to make the switch from Mac to PC for many years. Not because I’m unhappy with PCs and Windows (both have been very good to me), but because I’d like to experience life on the other side. I’ve always loved Apple design, and have been close to making a purchase so many times.
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Why you should hire a freelancer

There are many reasons for hiring a freelancer/contractor, whether you are looking for a software tester, a web designer, or a copy writer. No matter what skills you need, the main benefits of using freelancers are the same.
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Client confidentiality

One of the most worrying things about writing for this global public platform is the issue of client confidentiality.

Whenever I get an idea for a post, one of my first tasks is to apply my commonsense confidentiality filter to ensure I’m not about to offend any past, present, or future clients.

If my alarm bells ring, no matter how faintly, I won’t write it. Here’s why:
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Why aren’t we teleworking more?

A few days ago I exchanged tweets with Emily Cagle about how more companies are beginning to embrace teleworking. Our brief chat made me realise more than 60% of the work I do for my biggest clients could be done remotely, yet I still feel obliged/compelled to go into the office.

It goes without saying that I always work on small web design projects from home, but the big testing projects I work on involve huge amounts of planning and documentation that could be carried out in a coffee shop, at home, in a library, or anywhere else I can set up my laptop and get an Internet connection.
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