Thanks for sharing. I did the same for several months, I would call each session a mini iteration. And I kept a kanban board on my moleskine...which is imperative. I had times where other things would take precedence and I would stay away from my project for several days but due to my physical kanban I could easily pick up where i left off.
What I did different is this: at each iteration i would set a goal that I new I could accomplish within the mini-iteration (1-2 hours, sometimes a little more). Then at the end I would check off my accomplishments and would quickly "trim my backlog" and create a list of "NEXT:" for the next time. Then the next time I sat down I would review this list and adjust it as necessary and begin.
I found that have a physical notebook was beneficial because at the first sign of discouragement I could easily look back and see where I was just a few weeks ago or a few months ago. And nothing feels better than marking something complete. My lists are segmented by each iteration by day and have three categories: DONE, TODO, NEXT. it worked great for me.
Though I never delivered my product it was a great talking tool at an interview that led me to a job with a 30% pay increase. And I'm ok with this.
Good article Kar, I agree that the talent pool is drying up and I'm not sure what reasons are behind it. I wish more company's would adopt a work from home mentality as it also creates a competitive advantage to attract some of the brightest.
I have to say that this post hits the mark. My older mac that received the lion upgrade is now a piece of crap...i get the beach ball effect every few minutes.
I have to say that this post hits the mark. My older mac that received the lion upgrade is now a piece of crap...i get the beach ball effect every few minutes.
I'm not sure how it is for other engineering professions, but for software engineers we have a similar competition but instead of people willing to work for free it's people willing to work for peanuts out of India.