It’s Been a While

About 3 months to be exact, from when I first started working.  And hey, I’m still alive!  Doing… okay… still trying to do better.  I don’t really have any crazy updates.  I mean, a *lot* has happened since I’ve last written.  And I mean an incredible amount.  I could talk about a year’s worth but now’s not the time.

Usually after taking a break from blogging, I need to reset and write one of these “It’s been a while” posts to get the ball rolling again.  It sort of mirrors the way I think and do things: I like to do a reset, reflect on what happened, and start fresh, with a new set of goals.  I guess this proves that achieving personal goals must be a low priority for me, huh? 

On to the resetting…

Life has moved insanely fast since I last blogged.  A lot of my personal life’s challenges (Ex. my girlfriend finding a job, finding an apartment, furnishing the place, transportation, etc.) has been overcome.  I’m blogging from a completely different place in a completely different time zone.  It seems like what I wrote before was foreign.  I wasn’t even sure what I was looking to achieve there.

However, I think I know what I want to achieve here.  A lot of what a PM does involves written communication skills.  Our role is mostly about filling the gaps between the developers and the customers, and completing all the other not-so-cool tasks that the devs and testers don’t have so much time for.  Well, I don’t give PMs enough credit – because the success/failure of a feature can rest at the hands of a PM.  So I’m just playfully bashing a PM because, well, I can, since I’m one.  But you, cannot.  Sorry :)

Anyway, you can bash me because upon writing my first document and going through several iterations with my managers on the content, one thing becomes abundantly clear: I need to improve my writing.  I need to write wherever I can and whenever I can.  Looking at where I am weak in writing, the immediate gaps are in my ability to communicate to the point, to state things in a formally, and to write meaningful sentences as opposed to fillers.  Also, I must improve my ability to convey ideas from my head onto paper. 

It has been said to me many times that a PMs legacy, after they leave a place, will forever lie in the documents, so the document that you write better be the best damn thing you ever had or the trail you leave behind will be a pile of… you get where I’m going.  So what I am trying to say is (ironic how I can’t have said what I’m trying to say earlier), I will be using this as one of the mediums to hone my writing skills.

Hmm, I feel a lot more personal in this post than I’ve ever felt writing before.  Pat on the back?  Sure, why not.

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Personal experiences in the world of Program Management, good and bad.