Life-in-Progress

Well, things have been crazy as I’ve been learning the ropes for my new roles: Principal & Co-Founder of The Indigo Heron Group, Inc. and Managing Editor of Social Computing Magazine.

Lots to learn and lots to do, much of which has taken it’s toll on my blogging efforts. I’m working on some new time management techniques to help handle this a little better, since I am constantly struck with great ideas I want to blog about, but then get frustrated at not being in control of my schedule enough to make it happen.

So, to that end, I’ve had a few interesting things happen lately, that impact both my new business ventures and this blog:

• I’ve been learning a ton about the Enterprise 2.0 space. Much to my surprise and delight, I realized that just about every job I’ve had in my career was in the field (in one form or another) — I just hadn’t thought about it that way. Aside from making me feel much more confident in my ability to tackle my new role, it also made certain pre-existing relationships very valuable and cast them in a whole new light.
• I had coffee with Susan Scrupski of ITSinsider, and in talking about a very exciting new project she is tackling, I had another realization. While everyone in this space has different underlying interests when it comes to 2.0 capabilities within business, what my main interest is in how SaaS and Cloud Computing have revolutionized small business — and not just by creating a ton of tech startups (though, that is a particular love), but how these new tools have changed the time to market and the reach of organizations that have previously been unattainable.

  What I love most is that something like QuickBase or NetBooks make it possible to help someone like my father run his small business without an unrealistic up-front investment; and that something like Twitter, YouTube or WordPress can allow him the opportunity to access the viral marketing capabilities that did not exist during all the years when I was growing up and my family was running other businesses.

• I have found some interesting opportunities, and have been making plans to do one of my favorite things: attend professional conferences. In addition to helping out with and attending Interactive Austin, I am also scheduled to be at South by Southwest here in Austin in March, and then make a trip home to attend Web 2.0 Expo (which is a triple bonus, since not only does it mean getting a visit home for the first time in a year, but it also puts me at precisely the right time to celebrate the birthdays of two of my dearest friends). And with any luck, I’ll also be able to attend the Enterprise 2.0 Conference in Boston in June. (I knew I’d miss working for an airline, but at the moment, I miss it more than I even imagined!)

So, in addition to working on all kinds of fun and exciting new endeavors (some of which I’m not entirely ready to announce yet), I’ve also decided that I’m going to write a series for Social Computing Magazine on (mostly small) business for whom “agile” is more than merely a development methodology. It is an operating philosophy for their entire business. And, as such, how does this influence the technology tools they use. Often times, we see this is a huge driver in the adoption of SaaS and cloud computing solutions, and so this is something I am interested in exploring.

If you have, work for or know of a business that has good examples of this — either as a consumer or as a provider — please shoot me an email letting me know. I’d love an introduction, because I’d like to speak to some different people who have found business value in this arena and who would like to discuss it so that I can write about it.

In the meantime, I’ll post more as soon as I have a few more things lined up. But for now, there is never a dull moment here in Austin!

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