THE NINE IS OUT NOW

Phil Simon

THE WORLD’S LEADING INDEPENDENT WORKPLACE COLLABORATION & TECH EXPERT

Reflections on 2017

Thoughts on an enormously turbulent year.
Dec | 27 | 2017

Dec | 27 | 2017
}

For some strange reason, my best years tend to take place during turbulent times. Case in point: In 2008, as the financial crisis arrived in full force, I was completing what was by far my best year as a systems consultant and putting the polishing touches on the first version of Why New Systems Fail.

In this vein, 2017 turned out to be remarkably similar. In a political environment that one can best describe as challenging, I’m pleased to have completed my first year as a full-time ASU faculty member. I know quite a bit more about how academia works and what it takes to reach students. to this end, I made some tweaks to my classes and my student evaluations rose across the board. To quote Homer Simpson, “Self-improvement has always been a passion of mine.”

Beyond my “normal” teaching responsibilities, I was plenty busy outside of the classroom:

  • I wrote my eighth book—Analytics: The Agile Way.
  • I recorded the online version of CIS450—the capstone course for ASU’s analytics program.
  • I managed a project for ASU. A three-person team built a database for a large international organization.
  • I founded 5marbles—a new software-development shop. I also pulled together a team of rockstar developers. I can’t wait to get started.
  • On the publishing front, I advised several authors and sold Motion Publishing.
  • I wrote a bunch of posts for the SAS Data Roundtable and IBM’s IT Biz Advisor. Not surprisingly, I blogged less on this site.
  • I continued to interview people I find interesting on Huffington Post. (Interviewing Nick Bilton on his excellent new book American Kingpin was a particular highlight.)
  • I spoke at a few Arizona events and set up a few more for 2018.
  • I taught myself Pythonalthough there’s plenty more for me to learn.
  • I read a bunch of books.

Simon Says: 2017 wasn’t too shabby.

I’m curious to see what 2018 brings, especially with 5marbles.

Feedback

What say you?

Receive my musings, news, and rants in your inbox as soon as they publish.

 

Blog E Miscellany E Reflections on 2017

Related Posts

Why I’m All in on Notion

Introduction Over the last few months, swaths of users have been fleeing Evernote. (Private equity, mass layoffs, and price increases tend to do that.) I suspect that many Evernote refugees will wind up in the Notion camp. About 18 months ago, I started noodling with...

Thoughts on Citizen Developers and Author Choices

The other day, I was speaking with my new buddy Sam Sibley about citizen development. Sibley serves as a global head at PMI. He's also one of the authors of Citizen Development: The Handbook for Creators and Change MakersOne of the very books on the subject...

Publication of Project Management in the Hybrid Workplace

am pleased to announce that Project Management in the Hybrid Workplace is now available for purchase. Why give it a read? Lots of reasons, but here's a biggie. As I'm well aware, the existing canon of PM books is substantial. Still, the vast...

Vote on the Subtitle for Why New Enterprise Systems Fail

Later this year, I'll be releasing the third edition of my first book Why New Systems Fail: An Insider’s Guide to Successful IT Projects. Released in 2010, the second edition is a bit long in the tooth. A few things have happened during the last dozen years, such as...

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

 

Blog E Miscellany E Reflections on 2017

Next & Previous Posts

Related Posts

Why I’m All in on Notion

Introduction Over the last few months, swaths of users have been fleeing Evernote. (Private equity, mass layoffs, and price increases tend to do that.) I suspect that many Evernote refugees will wind up in the Notion camp. About 18 months ago, I started noodling with...

Thoughts on Citizen Developers and Author Choices

The other day, I was speaking with my new buddy Sam Sibley about citizen development. Sibley serves as a global head at PMI. He's also one of the authors of Citizen Development: The Handbook for Creators and Change MakersOne of the very books on the subject...

Publication of Project Management in the Hybrid Workplace

am pleased to announce that Project Management in the Hybrid Workplace is now available for purchase. Why give it a read? Lots of reasons, but here's a biggie. As I'm well aware, the existing canon of PM books is substantial. Still, the vast...

Vote on the Subtitle for Why New Enterprise Systems Fail

Later this year, I'll be releasing the third edition of my first book Why New Systems Fail: An Insider’s Guide to Successful IT Projects. Released in 2010, the second edition is a bit long in the tooth. A few things have happened during the last dozen years, such as...

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *