Sadly; I’ve been bootstrapping my web development company, Digital Alias, since November 2001. You’d think by now I’d have it in full gear. With a combination of my own personal defects, managing a family of four, and a full-time job I’ve learned a lot of DOs and DON’Ts. So; I’m going to start keeping a public log to track my progress. It’s more of a reminder and time line to me, but this IS the Internet… so everyone benefits. :)

I usually think better after getting a good night’s rest. Well; as a treat to myself I went to bed last night at 21:30. Which simply means that while I’m en route to the office I tend to think of good ideas, which is why I’m writing this post. I’m not sure if I should attempt to establish my meager credentials, but since this is the first post of the “Bootsrapping” category I’ll go ahead an try to win your respect.

In a nutshell I’m an open source web developer, which simply means that I prefer to use platforms that are not proprietary (Linux, PHP, etc).  Besides being a neckbeard programmer in a modern day body, my ultimate goal is that everything I post online would be integrated within other systems. So; I tend to follow “standards” with the hope that everything will one day overlap.

Project Management

I’m currently studying for the Certified Associate in Project Manager (CAPM) Certification. My employer (Northrop Grumman) has given me the opportunity to expand my knowledge base and I’m very grateful for that. My test is scheduled for the end of this month — so I have to increase my study sessions. Procrastination and mere tiredness has kept me from seriously progressing in the book “The PMP Exam: How to Pass on Your First Try, Fourth Edition” by Andy Crowe, PMP.

One of my major faults with bootstrapping Digital Alias is the ability to let other developers work on projects. I’m a pretty relaxed fella, but when it comes to code I’m as anal as it gets. I like everything to look structured and well documented. My experience with working with other people is I’m not familiar with their logic in coding something. So; whenever I have to come behind them to tweak something I have to follow through their logic and some times it’s not pretty.

What I have to accept is that I don’t have time to code sites while maintaining my family and day job. I don’t have a problem setting up appointments and following up with people, but I also want to code… I LOVE to code. That’s been my main struggle. So; one idea that’s formulating in my head while I understand these project management concepts is that I’m going to have let go of the hands-on aspect of a project and get someone to do the work. Deal with the different logic of other developers and simply get the revenue coming in. Maybe when I finally run the company full-time then I can get back into coding, who knows.

My major lesson for today is to “let go” of the code and manage these projects.

References

  1. http://www.ussdragonstar.com/utilitycore/stardates.asp

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