I started blogging in July 2010, and after less then 16 months I’ve written 100 blogs (the one you’re reading right now is number 100). Did I reach the goals that I’ve defined when I started blogging? Have I delivered any value, and which benefits did I get from blogging? It’s time for a retrospective!
Goals
When I started blogging, I defined two goals that I wanted to reach:
- to reach people that I haven’t reached yet.
- to build an archive of knowledge and experience.
Did I reach these goals? It’s time to take a look, and see what my progress has been. So I examined my data (nothing but the facts 😉 ), and did an analysis to see the value that my blogging has delivered, and the benefits I’ve gotten from it.
Reaching People
Let’s take a look at the first goal: to reach people I haven’t reached yet. Some data from the last year, collected with Google Analytics.:
- Roughly 1000 website visitors per month
- Over 4500 unique visitors since december 2010 (1 year)
- Visitors from 102 countries, of which 49 countries with 10 or more visitors
- 73 comments, from 23 authors, on 25 different articles
- 27 subscribers
I didn’t really quantify my goals when I started blogging, because I didn’t know what a realistic target level would be, and how to measure it. But I think that the above figures are quite good (that is, for a blog), I’m impressed by the number of visitors and the responses I’m getting. Though I already had an extensive network when I started blogging, it still has increased significantly during the last year, partly due to blogging and sharing my blog on my twitter page and LinkedIn profile. And there are still a lot of readers which I don’t know (yet), but keep coming back to read my articles. Thank you!
So did I accomplish my first goal, reaching people with my blog? The number of new visitors is still increasing, so I’m not there yet. But it will probably never stop increasing, so I’m happy with the results that I’ve reached with 100 blogs. Goal met :-).
Building an archive
Some data on the second goal: to build an archive of knowledge and experience. What’s available on this website?
- 100 blog, on subjects like Agile, Improvements, CMMI, Quality, Root Cause Analysis, Business Value, Customers, and Feedback, in English (66 articles) and Dutch (34 articles).
- 10 “classic” blogs, that were reworked, extended and keep getting new readers
- 7 tools (CMMI Process Areas, Review Benefits, Root Cause Analysis templates)
- A list with more then 100 publications: workshops, tutorials, articles, presentations, papers, keynotes, columns and book reviews, from which 72 can be downloaded
- 19 banner pictures, with links to the full picture in Picasaweb
Not bad, huh? Given the data on visitors, the number of downloads, and the reactions I get from people, there is a significant amount of valuable information on this website that can be used to improve software quality, the way to develop and manage your software, and to continuously learn and develop individuals, and your organisation. So also this second goal is met :-). But you’re never done sharing experience. So if you miss something, let me know. Might be a good subject for a next blog!
What’s the value of blogging?
Several readers reacted on my blog, showing that they value it:
It’s nice to see an article about the P-CMM framework and the synergy between P-CMM and CMMI.
Thank you for share your post with me this is a nice and help full article for me
Hi Ben, I really like the idea!
Ben, very useful posting.Looking forward for your updates
Dit is een interessant onderwerp c.q. verhaal. Bedankt voor dit verslag
And I’ve got lot’s of good ideas and additions on my blogs:
Indeed the “capability of your workforce is of huge importance for the business”.
Even before Brooks and Constantine, programming-style pioneer P. J. Plauger was there
Een extra optie is het ontwerp zo maken dat fouten minder impact hebben
Given these reactions, I’m assuming that there is value in my blogs. And several people have added value, by reacting and providing their views or additional information on the subject. Great, thanks!
Articles from this website have also been posted on imfacts, veranderproject.nl, and computable. With these platforms I’m reaching a broader audience.
Why I’m Blogging?
I’m blogging to share my experiences with Software Quality, (Process) Improvement and Organisational Development. Many of my readers also shared their experiences on my website. Blogging for me is a way to continuously learn and improve myself, by capturing my knowledge and experience into articles, and reacting upon the feedback that I get. Also blogging (combined with Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media) has brought me in contact with many new people, resulting in an extensive high quality network. It happens often that people come to me with a question, and either I can help them directly, or connect them to people who can. Feels great, and it’s also highly appreciated by my customers :-).
Thanks!
A big thank you all! to the readers of my blogs, to those who commented on them or reacted to my personally, and to the people that shared my blogs via their websites, facebook, Google+ or twitter. You make it worthwhile for me to continue blogging, and I’ve learned a lot from your reactions. Let’s keep in touch!
You can contact me, or comment on this page. I value your feedback!
Ben,personally i gain lot in reading your blog and thank you very much for this good knowledge sharing service:-)
Raj, thanks for the confirmation and thumbs up, and also thanks for your contributions on several blogs, they really add value!
Ben,personally i gain lot in reading your blog and thank you very much for this good knowledge sharing service:-)
Hi Ben,
Congratulations with your intermediate milestone!
First a remark, good to see that the strength based blog still has the highest mark. Thinking further about the mark, could you destill a learning curve, e.g. a rise of the average blog mark? Are there topics with significantly higher marks? Is there perhaps a correlation between short blogs and high marks? Etc…
And then talking about goals, wouldn’t it be nice to measure the amount of impact you had with your blogs? So maybe, track the real actions that were done/changed/… because of your blogs, and perhaps it is even possible to determine economic value …
Just wondering …
BR, Paul
Thanks for the congratualtions!
Again you arer challenging my strengths, and stimulating me to use them to become even more effective (thanks Paul!). Let me dive into my statistics, and come up with some details.
But I also would like to ask my readers: What do you prefer? Long (detailed) or short? Which topics, and why? English or Dutch? Reworked classics or new ones? Let me know!
Ben,
I didn’t know you had a blog until you posted on LinkedIn – so that’s a good source of new readers! I enjoy what I see and I also invite you to visit my blogs and comment on them too.
Best regards,
Carol
http://musingsaboutsoftwaredevelopment.wordpress.com
Hi Carol,
I use LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Google+ to notify people of new articles. And I occasionally post a wrap up article on amplify. Also, many people are informed of new articles either via RSS, or with a subscription on my website.
Thanks for sharing your website, will visit it and for certain react on your blogs!
Ben,
Found “Golden Rules for Agile Process Improvement” very interesting and useful.
Congrats on 100th post. Looks like I have similar interest and a blog in the same areas.
Krishna
http://3point4.wordpress.com/
Thanks for the congratulations. Your site has some interesting article, thanks for sharing!
Beste Ben,
Erg bedankt voor t delen van zoveel waardevolle informatie. Ook een hele prestatie om telkens maar weer “in de pen te kruipen”.
Ga zo door! Ik blijf geinteresseerd. En SPIder put hier ook inspiratie uit !
Vriendelijke groeten,
Matt Verhaegh, voorzitter SPIder – Software Process Improvement Nederland.
Graag gedaan. Als oud voorzitter heeft SPIder (http://www.st-spider.nl) nog steeds mijn interesse, en draag ik graag bij aan het delen van kennis en ervaring met het verbeteren van IT / R&D organisaties.
Keep on blogging Ben. We need to keep sharing experience as broadly as possible. I’d especially like to see you blogging from a practical point of view. Straight from experience and straight from the heart. Enjoy. I know I do.
Thanks Patrick, I’ll keep blogging! To prove that, I posted blog 101 on Agile culture today :-).
I’m adding practical experiences in my blogs as much as possible. Also sharing my papers and presentations, at http://www.benlinders.com/publications/list-of-publications/.