I recently saw the movie Hugo with my family. First, I really enjoyed the move and what Martin Scorsese did with the story. I have not read the book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, but my kids have and they were looking forward to the movie (my observations are based on the movie, not the book.) And second, some of the scenes made me think of software development, (agile for one scene in particular). Yes, its a little odd that a story about an orphaned, clock-maker’s son would lead me to thinking of agile software development, but I am also currently reading Test-Driven iOS Development by Graham Lee.

We were ready. Credit card in hand. Excessive monitoring for WWDC website.

And that was just last week. Now Apple has 100s of thousands of iOS & Mac developers on edge. Anxiety levels are at an all-time high. Its as a bad as a bunch of screaming, hyperventilating pre-teen girls at a Bieber concert.

Here is what we know from WWDC history:

Here’s a list of 2012 iOS/Mac Development Conferences:

These are all that I know about at the moment. If you have additions or corrections, let me know at scott@4arrowsmedia.com

ScoutTrail, my first and only app in the Apple App Store at the moment, is in desperate need of an update. The last update was in November 2010…way too long ago. There have been 4 new Merit Badges released in that timeframe and many changes to other MBs and other awards. The are several legitimate excuses:

1. Lack of time.
2. Focusing on customer work so as to keep my family fed and sheltered.

Something has to change or I am afraid I will not be renewed on my current project…

I like the current work I am doing with a very reputable mobile dev company. However, I don’t feel like I have been doing a good job of it. Yes, they threw me in on a big gnarly project, as they described it.

I had a small problem. I needed to setup private repositories on GitHub for backing up my CubPath and ScoutTrail code and data. So, I signed up for the cheapest GitHub plan to get some private repos. The cheapest option provided 5 private repos, which is perfect for me right now. The problem is that I had 2 local repos for each app. This would use up 4 of my 5 remote repos. Not an ideal way of providing for future expansion.

My current app setup is this, I have 2 Xcode projects for each app. One project is the actual app, ScoutTrail. The other is a project, ScoutTrailData, I use for generating a SQLite database that is used to preload ScoutTrail Core Data store with all rank and merit badge requirements data.

and meet some people.

Most developer types are introverts. We are at home sitting in front of our computers coding. However, it is hard to make a living while secluded in our own little world. To learn, we need to hear about other’s ideas and experiences. In order to get client work, you need to make contacts and build a reputation.

There are no secret formulas for this, just Get Out. Leave the confines of your home.

I am striving for simplicity. I’m trying to clean up my office of clutter. I like clean simple UIs. I liked my website when I initially set it up, but now I don’t. The black background no longer appeals to me and even writing blogs using WordPress’s tools is no longer fun. After reading a post on a friend’s site, I looked further at his site and just plain liked the simple, but clean look and feel of it. I saw the Octopress tag at the bottom of the page and looked further. After talking with Dave, I was convinced this was the system I wanted to use for blogging.

I hate conflict, personal conflict that is. More to the point, I hate fighting with my wife and kids. Most, if not all, of these heated “discussions” are due to improper planning or poor communication…the common signs of the lack of being proactive.

However, be more proactive is not a SMART goal. It is generic and immeasurable. To make it SMART, I need to break it down into a list of specific objectives that can improve my reactive skills. So here is my list:

1. Re-read David Allen’s book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by the end of next week (1/13/2012). I read his book years ago and even attended his 1-day seminar, but I failed to apply what I learned. I consider myself my own worse critic, and with that revelation, my planning skills stink. And one of the first steps to planning is know what to plan, and the key factor to GTD his gathering and trapping that which needs to be planned.

What is SMART? It is a method for managing goals.

• Specific - Set specific goals, not vague ones. Answering one or more of the W’s can help.
  • Who is involved?
  • What do I want to accomplish?
  • Where will I do this?
  • When will I do it?
  • Why do I want to complete this goal?

Vague - “I want to lose weight.” Specific - “I will go to the gym three times per week so that I will lose 10lbs in 6 months.”

• Measureable - If you cannot measure it, how do you know when you are done? Ask these questions:
  • How much?
  • How many?
  • What does done look like?