A change in perspective

I used to have a blog, which I tended with care for several years. In that blog,I tried to write down my thoughts about and contributions to a particular, if vaguely-defined community.

Then, came a few changes and my poor blog became abandoned.

The first blow came when I moved work from South Africa to Europe. It wasn’t only a change of scenery, although I had told myself that when the time came. Instead, it was actually a change in perspective and how I viewed my role at work. For years I had been advocating a certain mission; I had been responsible (if only to myself) for that mission and perspective, and had publicly taken a stand in promotion thereof. My blog was the outlet for a certain persona which in my mind others were interested in. In short, I thought I had an audience.

It doesn’t really matter whether or not that audience was real, nor how large or small it actually was. I was doing the writing and I was writing for a certain reader.

When the change came, I took a small step back from public attitudes, since the new role I had chosen was no longer one of personal leadership, but representation of a larger entity, EGI. I still had opinions of course, and I still wrote for an audience which in my mind was interested in them. However, I had relinquished that persona which was at the helm and this change manifested in my author persona as a transition into something more personal.

That move from representing a public persona to a more personal, indeed more authentic persona, was the trigger for a long and deep pause in writing.

Me at work

This blog is a rededication to the joy of telling stories, this time with a focus on myself.

It is a blog about work where it overlaps with me; it’s about me at work.

You will read about very personal aspects of my experience of working with technology, of how I work, about why I make certain choices, for myself, for clients, and for the benefit of those that might follow the path I have chosen. In many of these posts, I will be investigating aspects of ergonomics, of efficiency, of sustainability of tools and methods that I put to use at work. I will talk about why, even as I go deep into how certain tactics are executed and I will try to put choices into context wherever possible.

Technology isn’t complicated – people are and that’s where I find my motivation. “The devil is in the details”. Call me perverse, but that is where I love to sit. It won’t always be pretty, but it’ll always be real.

This is my new adventure. Welcome, fellow travelers.