Image Credit: 100kr
I have learned almost everything about computers and technology by doing small projects. This may be in tandem with someone else, or something I want to figure out on my own, but usually is the result of a need to learn or understand a new technology.
I can remember the deployment of Palm Pilots with dial-up modem attachments to an entire floor of private wealth management financial folks back when I worked over a summer at DLJ Asset Management. I knew nothing about RAS servers or deploying hardware to 200+ people but I figured it out in a trial by fire scenario and got the job done.
That is why I continue to have and work on what I call my Sandbox Projects.
Some of them are full blown websites that I test things out on, while others are half baked ideas that do not have anything but a few pages of notes behind them. Each has its own reason for coming into existence, but more importantly each has an impact on how I look at the world and interact with technology.
Most of the time I start a project to learn something about an area I do not know enough about or think I can come up with something interesting that does not currently exist. Call it an entrepreneurial bug – I enjoy working on small projects to see where and how they get traction.
I recently wrote about web services and know I have a lot to learn which is why I have outlined some areas I am focusing on right now:
1. Scaling
Issues of scale affect companies in both the real world involving human capital, as well as within their technology growing a service. I want to understand some of the constraints put on a service by growing at a large scale and what infrastructure needs are necessary to handle growth. It is certainly a predicament that every company wants to be in, but understanding the groundwork and foundation for setting things up right from the start is important to know. Many times I have heard that this is in fact impossible, but what steps can be taken to avoid the known pitfalls.
2. Deployment
What are the best services and software to use to get something up and running and delivering on your value proposition from the start? Too many times have I heard stories of people having to tear things down to rebuild from scratch because they didn’t think through “one key element”. Mapping out a plan to avoid these problems I feel can only be done by launching something real and in the marketplace with real variables in play.
3. Launch
With more outlets to submit an idea too than is possible by one person – what are the best for a small company or entrepreneur to use? PR firm vs. In house vs. Intern vs. Nothing? What is the best way to do outreach and interact with the very people you want writing about and covering your technology, product, or solution
4. Project Management
What are the best tools for the job? I have used Basecamp, Active collab, and tested many MANY otheres. How is the process different using one system over another? Why use a system at all? Why does it seem like you need to use a project management system just to choose a project management system in the first place??
5. Technology
With an array of options to attach any given problem what are the top items to look for in choose a platform. One area I do not know enough about is Ruby on Rails and running a full scale application within a Ruby environment. Most of my projects to date have been PHP based, using MySQL DBs, or simply HTML or Javascript. As knew technologies come up its good to know the strengths and weaknesses of each.
6. Hosting
Definitely a combination of everything above – I have used many web hosts over my career on the web and have a lot of experience with both shared hosting and virtual dedicated hosting environments. Using things like cPanel, custom control panels, Plesk and the like I feel I know how to control and manage a number of sites in one server. I have never had an actual dedicated machine but perhaps that will come in time.
7. Analytics
I feel very versed in this area due to my background in search marketing. Through my own sites or client sites I have had the opportunity to work with almost every analytics (if not all) systems out there. From enterprise level accounts on Omniture to deploying Google Analytics to my own site I have seen with and pivoted data from many sources. The interesting thing here is that this is one area I feel has become a commodity because of the vast features of free services like Google Analytics and Sitemeter. The one area I would love to gain knowledge in is real time analytics to see what is happening on a site in real time. Knowing where and when problems arise usually can be tracked down in your analytics platform which is why having multiple systems up and running is a good idea.
Image Credit: Wildcat Dunny
I have yet to find out if any of these will produce a serious return but they certainly put some extra lunch money in my pocket and have given me the experience I need to provide solid opinions on bigger projects. As I said before it is always good to learn something by actually doing it – and web applications are no different. You can only learn so much in hypothetical situations or from reading about them in a textbook or case study situation.
In the future I hope to share more of these projects and of course master some of the items listed above.
[hat tip to Adam Singer for some help with this post]
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February 21st, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Agreed. I too am a big fan of this style of learning. The breadth of projects / things I've experimented with is reaching an almost comical level–you can see the list at http://kortina.net – I'm actually to the point where I'm trying to do fewer of these and hopefully do some deeper exploration into some of these sandboxes, but when sometimes when I get an idea or see a new technology I just can't help myself from playing with it.
My one recommendation for sandbox style learning is to get each project public as soon as possible. Recognize that 80/20 holds ( you can accomplish 80% of a project in your first 20% time) and make sure your first 20% time produces something people can play with. This will accelerate learning as you can watch how people play in the sandbox with you.
Looks like most of the stuff you mentioned here are building blocks for a larger project, but I'm looking forward to see what sorts of things you come up with once you put them together. Tweet me @kortina when you have anything public I can play with.
February 21st, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Agreed. I too am a big fan of this style of learning. The breadth of projects / things I've experimented with is reaching an almost comical level–you can see the list at http://kortina.net – I'm actually to the point where I'm trying to do fewer of these and hopefully do some deeper exploration into some of these sandboxes, but when sometimes when I get an idea or see a new technology I just can't help myself from playing with it.
My one recommendation for sandbox style learning is to get each project public as soon as possible. Recognize that 80/20 holds ( you can accomplish 80% of a project in your first 20% time) and make sure your first 20% time produces something people can play with. This will accelerate learning as you can watch how people play in the sandbox with you.
Looks like most of the stuff you mentioned here are building blocks for a larger project, but I'm looking forward to see what sorts of things you come up with once you put them together. Tweet me @kortina when you have anything public I can play with.
February 21st, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Agreed. I too am a big fan of this style of learning. The breadth of projects / things I've experimented with is reaching an almost comical level–you can see the list at http://kortina.net – I'm actually to the point where I'm trying to do fewer of these and hopefully do some deeper exploration into some of these sandboxes, but when sometimes when I get an idea or see a new technology I just can't help myself from playing with it.
My one recommendation for sandbox style learning is to get each project public as soon as possible. Recognize that 80/20 holds ( you can accomplish 80% of a project in your first 20% time) and make sure your first 20% time produces something people can play with. This will accelerate learning as you can watch how people play in the sandbox with you.
Looks like most of the stuff you mentioned here are building blocks for a larger project, but I'm looking forward to see what sorts of things you come up with once you put them together. Tweet me @kortina when you have anything public I can play with.
February 21st, 2009 at 7:57 pm
Agreed. I too am a big fan of this style of learning. The breadth of projects / things I've experimented with is reaching an almost comical level–you can see the list at http://kortina.net – I'm actually to the point where I'm trying to do fewer of these and hopefully do some deeper exploration into some of these sandboxes, but when sometimes when I get an idea or see a new technology I just can't help myself from playing with it.
My one recommendation for sandbox style learning is to get each project public as soon as possible. Recognize that 80/20 holds ( you can accomplish 80% of a project in your first 20% time) and make sure your first 20% time produces something people can play with. This will accelerate learning as you can watch how people play in the sandbox with you.
Looks like most of the stuff you mentioned here are building blocks for a larger project, but I'm looking forward to see what sorts of things you come up with once you put them together. Tweet me @kortina when you have anything public I can play with.
February 22nd, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Eric, great posts and I as well find it best to learn things by doing. I was hoping you would showcase your projects, not just talk about the rationale behind them. Curious to learn more.
February 22nd, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Eric, great posts and I as well find it best to learn things by doing. I was hoping you would showcase your projects, not just talk about the rationale behind them. Curious to learn more.
February 22nd, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Eric, great posts and I as well find it best to learn things by doing. I was hoping you would showcase your projects, not just talk about the rationale behind them. Curious to learn more.
February 22nd, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Fear of failure – my #1 reason I do not launch and announce things. I know
so I tend to keep things under wraps. I am in a
I would probably benefit from getting feedback and critiques – but I havn't
gone that route yet. I definitely plan on sharing some projects here in the
near future…I also didn't want this post to come off as promotional. It
also serves as a great brainstorm and organizational method for wrapping my
head around things as I work on them. This blog itself has always been an
experiment and certain jobs have not always been conducive to this type of
extracurricular activity
unique position now that in a way helps me curate these ideas and building
things helps me day to day so its almost encouraged behaviour vs. a hidden
hobbie.
February 22nd, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Fear of failure – my #1 reason I do not launch and announce things. I know
so I tend to keep things under wraps. I am in a
I would probably benefit from getting feedback and critiques – but I havn't
gone that route yet. I definitely plan on sharing some projects here in the
near future…I also didn't want this post to come off as promotional. It
also serves as a great brainstorm and organizational method for wrapping my
head around things as I work on them. This blog itself has always been an
experiment and certain jobs have not always been conducive to this type of
extracurricular activity
unique position now that in a way helps me curate these ideas and building
things helps me day to day so its almost encouraged behaviour vs. a hidden
hobbie.
February 22nd, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Fear of failure – my #1 reason I do not launch and announce things. I know
so I tend to keep things under wraps. I am in a
I would probably benefit from getting feedback and critiques – but I havn't
gone that route yet. I definitely plan on sharing some projects here in the
near future…I also didn't want this post to come off as promotional. It
also serves as a great brainstorm and organizational method for wrapping my
head around things as I work on them. This blog itself has always been an
experiment and certain jobs have not always been conducive to this type of
extracurricular activity
unique position now that in a way helps me curate these ideas and building
things helps me day to day so its almost encouraged behaviour vs. a hidden
hobbie.
February 22nd, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Eric, great posts and I as well find it best to learn things by doing. I was hoping you would showcase your projects, not just talk about the rationale behind them. Curious to learn more.
February 22nd, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Fear of failure – my #1 reason I do not launch and announce things. I know
so I tend to keep things under wraps. I am in a
I would probably benefit from getting feedback and critiques – but I havn't
gone that route yet. I definitely plan on sharing some projects here in the
near future…I also didn't want this post to come off as promotional. It
also serves as a great brainstorm and organizational method for wrapping my
head around things as I work on them. This blog itself has always been an
experiment and certain jobs have not always been conducive to this type of
extracurricular activity
unique position now that in a way helps me curate these ideas and building
things helps me day to day so its almost encouraged behaviour vs. a hidden
hobbie.
February 23rd, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Eric, your comment about why do you need to have a project management tool just to figure out which project management tool to use gave me a chuckle. It's the sort of complexity that after awhile gets bewildering and leaves you wondering where's a simple matrix to help me find my bearings. Sometimes with project management it seems like you need an entirely new nomenclature just to assess strengths and weaknesses. I think your comment is valid for lots of people.
One of the directions we are going is increasingly build something simply and flexible, that has the scaling capabilities hidden in the background, otherwise people seem to give up on project management tools and return to something… simplier. But I think project management is also changing – check out my blog on that topic and see if you have any thoughts – http://www.managepro.com/blog/index.php/does-pr...
Rodney Brim,
http://www.managepro.com/blog
February 23rd, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Eric, your comment about why do you need to have a project management tool just to figure out which project management tool to use gave me a chuckle. It's the sort of complexity that after awhile gets bewildering and leaves you wondering where's a simple matrix to help me find my bearings. Sometimes with project management it seems like you need an entirely new nomenclature just to assess strengths and weaknesses. I think your comment is valid for lots of people.
One of the directions we are going is increasingly build something simply and flexible, that has the scaling capabilities hidden in the background, otherwise people seem to give up on project management tools and return to something… simplier. But I think project management is also changing – check out my blog on that topic and see if you have any thoughts – http://www.managepro.com/blog/index.php/does-pr...
Rodney Brim,
http://www.managepro.com/blog
February 23rd, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Eric, your comment about why do you need to have a project management tool just to figure out which project management tool to use gave me a chuckle. It's the sort of complexity that after awhile gets bewildering and leaves you wondering where's a simple matrix to help me find my bearings. Sometimes with project management it seems like you need an entirely new nomenclature just to assess strengths and weaknesses. I think your comment is valid for lots of people.
One of the directions we are going is increasingly build something simply and flexible, that has the scaling capabilities hidden in the background, otherwise people seem to give up on project management tools and return to something… simplier. But I think project management is also changing – check out my blog on that topic and see if you have any thoughts – http://www.managepro.com/blog/index.php/does-pr...
Rodney Brim,
http://www.managepro.com/blog
February 23rd, 2009 at 6:52 pm
I think its also confusing that pricing varies so much from enterprise
options, SMB solutions, and freelancer services that tend to get a lot of
blog press. I actually agree with your post in that people organize into “a
series of habits and tasks” vs. projects. Most of the time things are setup
in a process or punch list that other people end up following.
I am surprised more project management systems do not come prepopulated with
processes for say “web design projects” or other use cases as I feel like
people can hit the ground running in those cases.
Another issue I have is that many services can do so many different things -
they end up doing nothing at all. I think abandonment of “free” trials is a
problem for those freemium models – especially in project management sites.
February 23rd, 2009 at 6:52 pm
I think its also confusing that pricing varies so much from enterprise
options, SMB solutions, and freelancer services that tend to get a lot of
blog press. I actually agree with your post in that people organize into “a
series of habits and tasks” vs. projects. Most of the time things are setup
in a process or punch list that other people end up following.
I am surprised more project management systems do not come prepopulated with
processes for say “web design projects” or other use cases as I feel like
people can hit the ground running in those cases.
Another issue I have is that many services can do so many different things -
they end up doing nothing at all. I think abandonment of “free” trials is a
problem for those freemium models – especially in project management sites.
February 23rd, 2009 at 6:52 pm
I think its also confusing that pricing varies so much from enterprise
options, SMB solutions, and freelancer services that tend to get a lot of
blog press. I actually agree with your post in that people organize into “a
series of habits and tasks” vs. projects. Most of the time things are setup
in a process or punch list that other people end up following.
I am surprised more project management systems do not come prepopulated with
processes for say “web design projects” or other use cases as I feel like
people can hit the ground running in those cases.
Another issue I have is that many services can do so many different things -
they end up doing nothing at all. I think abandonment of “free” trials is a
problem for those freemium models – especially in project management sites.
February 23rd, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Eric, your comment about why do you need to have a project management tool just to figure out which project management tool to use gave me a chuckle. It's the sort of complexity that after awhile gets bewildering and leaves you wondering where's a simple matrix to help me find my bearings. Sometimes with project management it seems like you need an entirely new nomenclature just to assess strengths and weaknesses. I think your comment is valid for lots of people.
One of the directions we are going is increasingly build something simply and flexible, that has the scaling capabilities hidden in the background, otherwise people seem to give up on project management tools and return to something… simplier. But I think project management is also changing – check out my blog on that topic and see if you have any thoughts – http://www.managepro.com/blog/index.php/does-pr...
Rodney Brim,
http://www.managepro.com/blog
February 23rd, 2009 at 8:52 pm
I think its also confusing that pricing varies so much from enterprise
options, SMB solutions, and freelancer services that tend to get a lot of
blog press. I actually agree with your post in that people organize into “a
series of habits and tasks” vs. projects. Most of the time things are setup
in a process or punch list that other people end up following.
I am surprised more project management systems do not come prepopulated with
processes for say “web design projects” or other use cases as I feel like
people can hit the ground running in those cases.
Another issue I have is that many services can do so many different things -
they end up doing nothing at all. I think abandonment of “free” trials is a
problem for those freemium models – especially in project management sites.
February 24th, 2009 at 12:24 am
Let's do a rails sandbox app! Deploy it on mor.ph and project manage with open source tools!
February 24th, 2009 at 12:24 am
Let's do a rails sandbox app! Deploy it on mor.ph and project manage with open source tools!
February 24th, 2009 at 2:24 am
Let's do a rails sandbox app! Deploy it on mor.ph and project manage with open source tools!
February 24th, 2009 at 2:40 am
This is a TEST Comment
Salman Khan
Salman Khan
http://www.google.com/
February 24th, 2009 at 2:40 am
This is a TEST Comment
Salman Khan
Salman Khan
http://www.google.com/
February 24th, 2009 at 2:40 am
This is a TEST Comment
Salman Khan
Salman Khan
http://www.google.com/
February 24th, 2009 at 4:40 am
This is a TEST Comment
Salman Khan
Salman Khan
http://www.google.com/
February 24th, 2009 at 7:10 am
What do you want to build?
February 24th, 2009 at 7:10 am
What do you want to build?
February 24th, 2009 at 7:10 am
What do you want to build?
February 24th, 2009 at 9:10 am
What do you want to build?
March 9th, 2009 at 2:55 am
All of successful person have started from small projects. I believe that you'll be a successful person all you need is patience and determination.
March 9th, 2009 at 2:55 am
All of successful person have started from small projects. I believe that you'll be a successful person all you need is patience and determination.
March 9th, 2009 at 2:55 am
All of successful person have started from small projects. I believe that you'll be a successful person all you need is patience and determination.
March 9th, 2009 at 4:55 am
All of successful person have started from small projects. I believe that you'll be a successful person all you need is patience and determination.
June 27th, 2009 at 1:32 am
My one recommendation for sandbox style learning is to get each project public as soon as possible. Recognize that 80/20 holds ( you can accomplish 80% of a project in your first 20% time) and make sure your first 20% time produces something people can play with. This will accelerate learning as you can watch how people play in the sandbox with you.
June 27th, 2009 at 6:32 am
My one recommendation for sandbox style learning is to get each project public as soon as possible. Recognize that 80/20 holds ( you can accomplish 80% of a project in your first 20% time) and make sure your first 20% time produces something people can play with. This will accelerate learning as you can watch how people play in the sandbox with you.