2014 Review; 2015 Goals

A quick blog post about things learned and accomplished in 2014 and areas of focus for 2015.

By writing them down I hope there’s more chance of me actually following through.

New software/apps/tools for 2014

Some of these apps I had used before, but in 2014 I found myself becoming more reliant on them and working them into my daily routine.

Slack for team chat & communication.
Sketch for UI design. It's taken over some, but not all, of what I previously used Photoshop for.
Wealthfront (US) & Nutmeg (UK) for ETF investing.
Pocket for saving articles/sites for later (I previously used Instapaper).
Pebble smart watch.
GetAround for car rentals.
Uber for taxi service (previously used Sidecar).

Things I shipped and worked on in 2014

Open-sourced my Grunt.js email design workflow and a few transactional email templates.
Migrated the Mailgun blog from Wordpress to Ghost.
Launched a Mailgun Help Center.
Continued to release various improvements to the Mailgun website and control panel
Continued to release various improvements to Codeshare

Books read in 2014

Remote User Research by Nate Bolt and Tony Tulathimutte
The Honest Truth About Dishonesty by Dan Ariely
Just Enough Research by Erika Hall
Hooked by Nir Eyal
Nudge by Richard H. Thaler
Running Lean by Ash Maurya
Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
The Expectant Father by Armin Brott
Brain Rules For Babies by John Medina
Modern HTML Email by Jason Rodriguez
One Up On Wall Street by Peter Lynch
Flash Boys by Michael Lewis
iOS Design and Code by Meng To
Get Sh*t Done by Niall Harbison
Start With Why by Simon Sinek
Lead With A Story by Paul Smith
Authority by Nathan Barry

Podcasts subscribed to in 2014

Shop Talk by Chris Coyier and Dave Rupert
Working Out by Paddy Donnelly and Ashley Baxter
Email Design Podcast by Jason Rodriguez and Kevin Mandeville

Goals for 2014

A look back at some areas of focus I set myself this time last year.

1. Projects with (sustainable) business models. Fail. Continued to work on side-projects that I enjoy to work on, rather than those that make money. What can I say, I enjoy hacking and tinkering on stuff. However I did manage to shut down and/or sell a few websites that I felt weren’t going anywhere, freeing up some time.

~~2. Hardware~~. Success(ish). Took a couple of classes at Techshop in San Francisco where I built and programmed my first Arduino. My Kano also arrived so I can devote some more time to it. I definitely have a better understanding of how this stuff works, but have a long way to go before building something useful.

~~3. Educating others~~. Success. I was a mentor and talked at Lean Startup Machine SF, mentored at Startup Weekend Oakland, gave a couple of Tech Talks on the things I do at Mailgun and wrote a couple of tutorials.

~~4. Educating myself~~. Success. Read quite a few useful books. Started Krav Maga training. Started Crossfit classes. Attended a Cooper workshop on design leadership. Took a couple of Techshop classes on electronics, and some development classes on both Code School and Treehouse.

Bonus: ~~Start a family~~. Success. Very proud to say my wife and I had a son in November. Life now has a whole new meaning, and also affects my areas of focus going forward :-)

Areas of focus for 2015

1. Focus on doing less. Instead of spreading myself thin and working on lots of things, I plan to focus. This includes projects I take on in work, personal projects and things in my personal life. By being selective I hope I can be more successful at the things I do take on.

2. Investing and wealth management. I’m a noob to what I’ll call “wealth management”. Investing. Stocks. Real estate. Lots to learn here. Now that I have a family I want to have a better understanding of this area of life so I can invest in the future.

3. Writing. I enjoy writing about the things I learn. And I find I learn more when I write or teach. More how-to tutorials, talking at events, hosting work shops, writing a book, teaching in schools. Something along those lines.