Since I didn’t do a great job realizing my goals from last year, I thought putting a little more “effort” into defining them this year might make a difference.
- 100 Posts. I know I didn’t even get close to 50 last year, but I think I might have just not set a “stretch” goal. I plan to start doing some more “getting started” posts, perhaps update the “writing a host” series, and plan to spend more time writing PowerShell code which should spur my writing here. 100 is only two per week (with two weeks off, even) so this should be achievable.
- Virtualization Lab. I had this on the list last year, but I wasn’t specific at all. I did do some virtualization, but it was mostly one-off, and not scripted much at all. Also, I used VirtualBox because it was so super easy. This year I will build (with scripts) a Hyper-V virtual lab including (at least) a domain controller, a web server, a SQL Server, and a file server. Not sure how much DSC will be involved, but that’s the next goal.
- Configure Servers with DSC. I’ve played around with simple push configurations, but have really just scratched the surface of DSC. I will configure with both push and pull, use file share and IIS. I don’t know if I’m up to spinning up a SharePoint farm with DSC, but I think that would be a good “capstone” project to make sure I understand DSC. Maybe if I can think of a good resource that hasn’t been written by the community I’ll go that direction, too.
- PowerShell User Group. There has been some interest in starting a user group in my state (Missouri), but nothing has materialized. I will definitely get something going at work (~6000 employees, maybe 1000 potential PowerShell users). Depending on my schedule, I’m considering starting a SW Missouri PowerShell group. Let me know if you’re interested.
- Continue Teaching at work. I mentioned in my 2015 review that I recruited another instructor, but I’d like to aim for 10 in-person sessions this year like last year. I think the classes we do have become repeatable enough that I might even record them for distribution to some of the smaller offices that I won’t be able to travel to.
- Share more on Github. I’ve got some connectivity-testing scripts (for a server farm) and some really fun Visio stuff already written. Just need to package it up and put it out there.
- Write more professional scripts. I’m going to have a post on this in the coming week. There are certain things that I think should be standard ingredients in a “professional script”. I don’t often polish things to this level, but that’s more laziness than anything else. It’s time I started practicing what I preach and writing things that are on a different level.
- Speak. Being involved in user groups will give me lots of opportunities to speak. I’ve done this in the past and enjoyed it, but need to make this something I do regularly.
- Encourage. I make it a point to comment on blog posts that I enjoy. I need to make this more of a priority, especially with newer bloggers.
- Digest. I’ve been enjoying some daily blog digests (Morning Brew and Morning Dew) as well as a couple of weekly ones (John Sansom’s Something for the Weekend and Brent Ozar’s weekly roundup) for quite a while, and I think there’s enough PowerShell content for a weekly PowerShell digest. I’ve been bouncing this idea around in my head for a while now and I think the time is right.
What do you think? This ought to keep me plenty busy.
–Mike
