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Retro of 2013 Resolution: A Learning Plan

Wish there was an App for That!
As every cycle passes back through the beginning it must first go through the ending... so let's first see if I made any progress in last year's long forgotten new year's resolution.  It was to create a learning plan and bet back into the beginner's shoes.  To become a newbie on some new tech and experience the frustration and excitement of learning a new tech skill.

All in all I did very well.  I did create a learning plan.  And like all plans it was great to have one and worthless after a little bit of learning proved it to be a poor plan (almost like I created it out of ignorance - oh, yeah - I did!).  Yet, it did provide a direction and increased the motivation as I could measure the progress and see where it was directing me in the wrong direction (or a direction I no longer desired to go).

I did learn the basics of RubyMotion (an iOS tool chain - development stack for iPhone apps).
RubyMotion.com
 Ran a few of my example apps on the iPhone simulator.  Never payed to get an Apple developer key and publish my own apps.  I hear that process is quite a learning experience also.  I remember the days of passing the Novell Netware publication standard tests.  A tough code review if there every was one - no memory leak every escaped them - and people wonder why Novell servers could run for decades without reboots.  If you every published a Novell app you don't need to wonder about quality control, you have experienced real QC.  I expect the Apple App-Store is similar, and this aspect of Apples control of the user experience is largely responsible for the happiness of customers.  Windows is known for the blue screen of death, and it is a deserved reputation.   Perhaps human-kind has learned from this mistake so many years ago (1990s).

I would like to take this next step - but I need a team - a group - people to be accountable to - so that I can be my best.  Anyone want to join me - or know of a group I can join?

This is what I've learned about my learning plan - that to be truly successful I've got to enlist collaborators.  This is what Jane McGonigal suggest in her TED talk, it was a key to her recovery from brain injury.  And a key to all great games.  And perhaps a key to life.





See Also:
Review Constraints before Projecting Desires



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