Iarfhlaith Kelly – Code agus Craic

This year I didn’t have time to write the following blog posts. They’re all still in draft and will more than likely stay that way now. So here’s what you won’t be reading from me any time soon.

Does Your Company Inspire Others

I didn’t have time to write a post titled ‘Does Your Company Inspire Others’ where I discuss the traits of an inspirational thought leader and the importance of networking with like minded people.

Five Reasons To Ignore Tenders Forever

I didn’t have time to write a post titled ‘Five Reasons To Ignore Tenders Forever’ where I announce that I am now refusing to take part in public tenders as I feel they’re a race to the bottom, where cost is given precedence over value.

FOWA Dublin 09 – New Venue Please

I didn’t have time to write a post titled ‘FOWA Dublin 09 – New Venue Please’ where I congratulate Ryan Carson and his crew for choosing Dublin as a conference location but request that they change the venue because Liberty Hall is a cesspit that should have been demolished years ago.

How To Prototype A Web Application

I didn’t have time to write a post titled ‘How To Prototype A Web Application’ where I discuss the importance of understanding the end user, proper wireframing, agile programming, and the stress the value of starting with the interface first.

Solving Real Business Problems

I didn’t have time to write a post titled ‘Solving Real Business Problems’ where I encourage developers to use the hundreds of frameworks, web services and existing web apps to help solve their clients problems instead of pitching the expensive bespoke solution.

The Cost of Success In Ireland

I didn’t have time to write a post titled ‘The Cost of Success in Ireland’ where I analyse how others will perceive your success once you’ve achieved it and cynically ask will they admire you or envy you, will they hold you up as a champion or drag you back down.

The Work Life Balance Of A Web Developer

And finally, I didn’t have time to write a post titled ‘The Work Life Balance of a Web Developer’ where I discuss the challenges of working in isolation and the importance of meeting others in your industry on a regular basis.

I didn’t have time to write all these posts, and more. Maybe next year I’ll have time to write more posts and abandon less of them.

This is not another blog post about Chrome, it’s an observation I have on the current browser landscape and the real reason why Internet Explorer has barely changed in 10 years.

I’ll admit though that it has improved slightly, but it’s nothing compared to what should be happening in a truly competitive environment.

A Shift in Consumer Behaviour

Google are transforming how regular consumers expect software to be delivered. As a web developer, this is a very good thing. Five years ago, when people thought of the Internet, they thought of Amazon and eBay. Nowadays they’re thinking of Gmail and Facebook. This shift in opinion on how software is consumed is an incredibly important one, and it leaves the advantage square at the feet of Google.

When people think of software I want them to think of a web application. I want them to think of the Internet. That’s because I’m a web developer and the larger the demand for web apps, the more business comes through my door. So, just like me, Google are hoping for the same thing, except rather then looking for our business, Google is looking for our attention. And a more advanced browser will increase our experience, and our attention online.

A Better Browser Means more Power to Google

But for Microsoft, it’s just not in their interest for browsers to become more advanced. Microsoft knows that Google is the king of the Internet and if browsers become more powerful, so does Google’s platform of choice.

The browser is already starting to make the desktop redundant, and Microsoft knows it. They know that a more powerful browser means Google’s applications like Gmail and Google Docs will become even more of a threat to the likes of Office, and Outlook. So, it’s my hunch that they’ve been deliberately avoiding making any significant advancements to Internet Explorer for this very reason.

Chrome Changes Everything

With the launch of Chrome (and the open source Chromium), Google have taken matters into their own hands and I’m confident that we’ll start to see more and more powerful features being introduced for the new browser over the next 12-18 months.

At this point, Gears will probably take centre stage and we’ll really start to see how powerful it can be. Drag ‘n’ Drop from browser to desktop is surely just around the corner along with a plethora of other cool ways to interact with the desktop.

The release of Chrome has turned the browser world on it’s head, and Microsoft’s attempt at curbing it’s advancement is over. This is good news for Google lovers and great news for web application developers.

It’ll only get better from here on in.

Since starting my blog in March, the amount of time I have spent online has exploded. I’ve become addicted to news and am a fully signed up member of the blogosphere. I twitter, I blog, I comment, I am LinkedIn to business colleagues and I Facebook my friends. I’m constantly reading new sources of information relating to all aspects of the web game. To put it mildly, I’m hooked.

Sound familiar?

If you’re nodding your head, I know how you feel.

Taking an active role in the online community is now an absolute necessity for anyone involved in any kind of web based business. It’s also very enjoyable.

Despite it’s importance however, it’s not without its draw backs:

1. It is very time consuming
2. It influences my judgement and opinion
3. It does not help me reach my goals
4. I use it as an excuse to postpone the really important things (I’ll just read one more blog post)

To be honest though, these are only mildly frustrating issues and nothing that some self discipline and a good dollop of time management couldn’t handle. However, there’s one more problem that all this information consumption causes and I believe that for entrepreneurs it’s the most serious. It stifles original thought.

True Innovation is Revolutionary

It took me a couple of months to confirm my suspicions but after reading the 4 Hour Work Week (kindly sent to me by Gordon Murray) I firmly believe that knowing too much information in your area of business will have a fiercely negative affect on your ability to think outside the box whilst trying to be innovative.

I started blogging with the belief that if I connected with the online community and engaged in interesting conversation while also keeping up to date on the latest news from the web industry that I would be perfectly positioned to invent the next best thing.

After 5 months of exactly this sort of activity I am happy to say I no longer believe this to be true.

Knowing the state of the art will not help you define it in the future.

This is not a new idea, it’s been discussed before:

“Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking”

- Albert Einstein

I can’t help wonder how the great man would have fared had he been glued to his feed reader for two or three hours a night.

Thinking Outside The Box

I have come to the conclusion that the only way to think outside the box is to forget what’s inside it.

If I am constantly updating my knowledge on the state of the art then I am playing a game of perpetual catchup. One that I will never win. What I really need to do is blur the lines, think outside the box and take my own approach.

Do you think that Steve Jobs spends his morning on Twitter micro blogging to his followers? Or that Richard Branson loads up his feed reader for an hour before bed every night? I doubt it. True innovation comes from independent thought and great execution.

Question The Status Quo

I constantly read news on new web startups, social media tools, data aggregators, web services, data portability, and other similar topics, but have found despite how interesting and compelling I may find all this information, that it has a large influence on my efforts at original thought.

Does my new killer app really have to integrate with the Twitter API? Probably not. Must it use open data standards? That’s probably overkill. Do I really need to leverage it’s viral potential? If it’s a genuinely great tool it won’t need to. And does it really need to integrate with my desktop calender? Maybe in version two.

Much of the ideas that I produce during a brain storming session are evolutionary not revolutionary. They build on existing technologies and use adopted standards within the web development community. Shame on me for not being more original.

So, what am I going to do about this problem? Simple. I’m going on a low information diet. I’m going to cut out as much noise as possible to help me focus on my real goals.

The Low Information Diet

In an effort to fight this constant stream of influential news and commentary I’m going to cull large portions of my subscribed feeds. I’m going to shut out as much of it as I can and cut myself off from the constant flow of information that sways my decisions both consciously and subconsciously.

By dramatically reducing the amount of news I consume on a daily basis I hope to become more productive, more efficient, more innovative and more original. As for the news that will undoubtedly pass me by, I’ll just have to live with it.

If it’s really that important, I’m sure I’ll hear about it one way or the other.

New ideas are great. For me, they’re like the adrenalin you feel going through the first big loop on a roller coaster. Ever been on Air at Alton Towers? It’s just like that. The buzz you get from that initial bright spark and the subsequent rush of unlimited possibilities is something that every entrepreneur thrives on. It’s what keeps us going. The only problem is staying focused.

I’ve been tempted in the past to drop one project half way through only to pick up another one that I thought to be more exciting. And, if I’m honest with myself, I’ve been guilty of that more than a few times.

The number of unfinished projects that are gathering dust in some remote folder on my computer is reaching an embarrassing level. I bet some of you are in exactly the same boat. You know what I’m talking about. How did the project that began as a world changing idea somehow fall out of favour and eventually become forgotten about and abandoned?

Well, I’ve been putting some thought into this very problem and I’ve come up with a few ideas that identify the causes of ‘project abandonment’ in the hopes that it’ll help to curb this tendency in the future:

Confidence of Success – Having doubt on the possible success of the current project often makes new ideas look more appealing, simply because they’re new and unexplored.

Negative Feedback – Receiving negative feedback is never easy, even if you’ve asked for it. Having people tell you your idea isn’t as good as you thought it was can be a hard pill to take.

New Competitors – Throughout the development of a project it can be very disheartening to see new entrants to the market with a similar project launch themselves directly at your target market.

Lack of Strategic Focus – Having a plan with realistic, achievable milestones takes a lot of work. Keeping to them takes even more effort and a new project lets you avoid that (at least for a while).

Code Soup – As a project gets more and more complicated, so does it’s source code. No system has a perfect architecture and despite best efforts, I sometimes take short cuts which I pay for later!

A New Big Idea – Having a new idea can put pressure on your ability to focus on what’s in font of you. We can only do so much at the same time and we need to acknowledge that.

This last point is different from the rest in that it is in no way related to the state of the current project. What you’re working on right now might be going perfectly and success with it could be just around the corner, but simply because this next idea for a project is ‘new’, it can appeal on this one point alone.

A Vow To Stay Focused on Existing Projects

Clearly, I’m struggling with this so I’m going to make a little pact with myself. I’m going to vow to complete all of the projects I’m working on large and small before taking on any more. Everything else will just have to be put on hold for another day, because despite how tempting they may look, it’s better to have two finished projects then four unfinished ones.

To mark Webstrong’s new tenancy in the Hothouse, I’ve created a teaser web page for Footprint, my newest software project.

For the moment, the site doesn’t say too much. It simply collects names and email addresses of people who want to find out more. But over the next few months I’ll be releasing more information on the whole thing.

I don’t want to give the game away too soon, so apologies for the lack of information. But if you’re keen to know what it’s all about, or even slightly intrigued then why not add your name to the list and I’ll tell you more about it shortly.

I’ll also be looking for alpha and beta testers in the not too distant future. So if you like to poke around new Web2.0 type stuff and get your hands dirty during the early stages of a project (particularly if you’re a web designer), then please register your interest and you’ll receive an invite soon.

You can visit the site at www.footprintapp.com.

If you want to give any immediate feedback, leave a comment here or email info@footprintapp.com.