Sunday, January 26, 2014

Why I Write Blog Posts: A Really Short Note

It seems some folks reading my blog are looking for answers to questions I pose or consider, or to scenarios and situations I describe.  A couple of posts have been anchors in LinkedIn discussions - and the most common theme in the comments was "The author did not give any solutions."

No kidding.

That is not why I write ~99% of my blog posts. 

That people find value in some of them is wonderful and deeply humbling to me.  That people find lessons in some of them they might be able to apply themselves is fantastic. 

However, most of the time, I am writing for myself.

If I am not presenting answers to problems, it is likely that I am writing to sort out problems in my mind.  Some of these get published.  Many of them sit in a queue and cyberly moulder away.  A few get deleted completely. 

So, if you are looking for solutions to problems similar to what I sometimes describe, I wish you luck. 

Sometimes the easiest way for me to identify possible solutions is to do my best to describe what I am facing with as much care as I can. By doing my best to describe what is happening, without emotion (that does not mean without passion,) I can read what I write and say "I wonder if that guy has thought about... blah.?"

I find insights I had not considered.  Sometimes I get insights from comments, which I appreciate.  Sometimes  I consider what options there are.  Sometimes I realize that the options I was hoping for are not there. 

And So...

If you are one of the people who regularly reads my blog posts, thank you.  I really do appreciate that you take a part of your day to read what I posted.  If you are looking for answers to problems I write about, please don't be upset if I don't describe them and then give an answer.

Please don't be offended. 

It simply is not why I write these posts.

2 comments:

  1. Pete,
    As a dedicated reader of your blog I do wonder sometimes if you ever find a poor, amiable or excellent solution to some of your problems. I'd love to see some posts where you describe what has or hasn't worked for you.
    For example, you describe a situation where a manager didn't understand that his micro-managing style was HIS entire teams problem. Have you ever had any luck attempting to point out to him or people like him, that it's him that is the problem?

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  2. This particular guy? Not yet. He is really deep in denial - like Ptolemy (King of DeNile). Generally, I look for suggestions from other people, their published works or information I can get from them in conversation. If you are facing something similar, I might suggest Weinberg's "Are Your Lights On?" or "Secrets of Consulting."

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