I’ve now done ten weeks of weeknotes. Let’s talk about how it has gone. In the first note, I wrote this:
I haven’t posted much. I’d like to change that. Instead of trying harder, I’d like to try solving it. A friend suggested posting weeknotes, so here goes.
Certainly it worked in the sense that I’ve posted every week. In general I’ve seen three kinds of benefits from blogging:
- Writing clarifies my thoughts for myself.
- Sharing the writing with people I know sparks conversations.
- Getting a broad audience for the writing builds my reputation.
The weeknotes have hit the first and the second points on the list. My thoughts have been clarified and I’ve had a bunch of great conversations.
Whether these posts are an asset for my reputation as a software engineer, I don’t know. I have not attempted to circulate the posts widely as I don’t think they’re likely to get much traction. I’ve mostly shared them with a few groups of friends and on Mastodon.
I’ve spent maybe an hour per week on writing the weeknotes. It’s not much, so considering the benefits, it has been time well spent. I’m planning to continue the practice for the time being.
Making it smoother
There are a few things I want to change.
The earlier in the week you start writing the note, the easier it will be to write. The trouble is that sometimes you notice that it’s already Thursday and you feel you haven’t thought anything worthwhile.
The solution I’m going to try is free writing, similar to morning pages: set a timer for ten minutes and just write whatever is on your mind.
My work has been a bit scattered and you can see it in how the weeknotes jump from one topic to another. However, I’ve now been able to focus more tightly on building an internal tool and I’m hoping that I can now bring more continuity to the weeknotes as well.
Finally, I’ll drop the non-engineering tidbits. They have been well-received but they feel out of place in the weeknotes.
Photo: A yellow leaf lying in a puddle on asphalt.