September 2017 Writing Roundup

Each month I summarize my work during the previous month.  I hope that by pausing to reflect on my activities and reviewing my progress that I can learn how to do better in the future.

This month was was very exciting.  More people read my stories than ever before.  The Spectrum Futures 2017 conference in Bangkok was outstanding.  I also began working a new contract.  And finally, my book is almost finished.  Much to love about September. 

Blog Posts

This month I wrote 5 articles.  That’s probably about the right number for a typical month.  I think I might be able to write more.  But articles in the tutorial series I’m writing, Excel BTS Project Tracker, take quite a bit of time, especially the HTML formatting to make the Excel functions readable.  I’ve now written 5 articles in that series. There might be 3 or 4 additional articles before the series is finished.  I hope to complete the series by using all the techniques I’ve shown you to create a one-page project dashboard.  I might be able to do that in October.

Excel BTS Project Tracker (This Technique is Much More Useful). Post 3 of the series.  I showed how to use Excel’s VLOOKUP function and Synthetic Data to present progress by region.  For some, this regionalization will be very useful all by itself.  More importantly, this is an Excel technique that you will probably use frequently.

Spectrum Futures Conference in Bangkok, 18-19 September 2017.  Sponsored by PTC, this conference gave attendees a chance to “look over the horizon”.  I was a panelist in the “Moving up the Stack” discussion.

Excel BTS Project Tracker (Date Buckets).  Post 4 in the series.  I showed how to track and display progress by months.

Notes From Spectrum Futures 2017.  The conference was truly outstanding.  The best part for me was the level of audience engagement.  There were many excellent presentations. But the discussions with the attendees made this exception.  There were attendees from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Taiwan, and Japan.  It was unfortunate that no one from the Thai Telecoms industry was able to attend.

Excel BTS Project Tracker – New Date Format.    Post 5 in the series.  Many projects are too short for monthly tracking; they need weekly tracking.  To do that, I showed how to synthesize a completely new Date format.

Create an Awesome LinkedIn Profile

I’m happy to tell you that the book is almost complete.  I’m presently having cover art made.  I hope to offer it for presale starting next week.  I’ll post when I get that far along.  If you sign up for pre-order I’ll give you a nice discount on the book.

September Traffic Summary

September was my best month ever, and the first month with more than 1,000 page views.  This brought my 3-month rolling average up to 564, 

Much of the credit for the increased page views goes to the Excel BTS Project Tracker series I’ve been working on.  But I also want to credit Derek Halpern with an outstanding suggestion.  His tip has changed my approach and the increase in the stats shows it.  Many thanks, Derek!  The visitors count has also increased.

The most important thing to me about these statistics is that it says that I’m writing more about things you want, things that help you.  Well, you want it, you got it!  I’ll have more Excel BTS Project Tracker posts this month, as well as Create An Awesome LinkedIn Profile.

Till next time.