Goals for 2010 :Update

Back in January, I set myself some goals. Now we’re half way through 2010, it’s time to review what I’ve (not) achieved...

Improve my web presence -

Tidy sqlsolace, improve tagging and searchability -

Achieved :

1. I’ve added fixed ‘pages’ to my blog (look up, the categories at the top!) These make it easy to find frequently accessed material. Pages are a new blogger feature.
2. A published search widget from google (search box on the right hand side) is proving far more effective than the blogger one at the top of the page.
3. I’ve also gone back and manually tagged a fair few posts I published without categorising.

To do :

1. Continue categorising / tagging posts
2. Review old posts for duplicate content, typos etc.
3. Produce more 101 posts and summary pages, deep linking older content.

Review (& either scrap or post) my backlog of scripts and notes -

Achieved : 30 posts from old notes

To do : 20 posts (have text files and screenshots to support these ready)

Review and remove old/unprofessional material from my personal web site

Achieved : Nothing!

To do : As above. Need to be strict and review content for relevance and professionalism.

Community - 

Publish further scripts on other sites (September 2009 : had 1st published on SSC) -

Achieved : Have had a further 4 scripts published @ SQLServerCentral

To do : Am aiming for a further 10 this year

Publish an article

Achieved : Nothing!

To do : Write one and get it published!.

Attend more Sql Server events / meetups

Achieved : 1 (SQLBits VI in London, April 2010)

To do : More!!!

Network more 

Achieved : LinkedIn connections with people I’ve genuinely worked with and respect. I don’t see the value of randomly adding others I cannot vouch for.

To do : More (real contacts, outside of Linked-in and the blogosphere)

Learning – 

Continue with SSIS development to further my ETL skills.

Achieved : 3 SSIS Solutions are now in production

To do : More Advanced SSIS
There are 2 barriers to achieving this goal –
1) business requirements and data volume levels are not yet requiring it.
2) our disk subsystem (purchased by a previous incumbent to my role) makes parallel processing difficult to explore.

Obtain Microsoft BI certifications

Acheived : Nothing!

To do : Start learning!

Tackle the mountain of books, whitepapers and printed articles in my office.

Achieved :

Couple of chapters of SQL Server MVP Deep Dives
Half of Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2008 T-SQL Querying

Reading technical books is proving more difficult than I thought, due to -

1. Limited personal time (young kids at home)
2. Even less quality time (trying to start a book at 8pm when kids are in bed and my brain is mush)
3. I find myself making notes on the content I read
4. I stop reading to try out scripts and ideas.

To do : Finish the above books, and get on with some more!