Retrospective on the last year and decade, and looking ahead

Over the last few days, my social media streams have gotten quite busy with people posting their thoughts on the last year – what they did, what they were aiming to achieve and did actually achieve, etc. I thought it would be good, as part of progressing myself (and my writing skills) to do the same, and what better time than New Years Eve!

Please note that this isn’t going to be the shortest blog post…

Additionally, technology has come so far. Looking back 10 years, ‘cloud’ was a word that was unfamiliar to most. The first SaaS offerings for Microsoft products was starting to come about – I remember UK hosted solutions for Dynamics 2011 launching, as Microsoft wasn’t doing anything directly yet. Office 365 first went live in 2011, and slowly started being adopted. Over the last year, the Power Platform has scaled immeasurably, and really become a standard/common part of client solutions.

On a personal level, much has happened, both for myself and my family:

• We bought a house, and moved in! (and yes, we’re fully unpacked)
• My dad passed away. He hadn’t been well for a few years. It wasn’t so easy to deal with – I still sometimes think that I’ll call him about organising something, or want to show him a picture of a DIY project that I’m doing.
• I started a new job at the beginning of the year, with a twist to my previous roles – this one was in Consulting (which I had never done before). I did this to challenge myself, and move out of my comfort zone
• I started learning about bids, pricing, and all of those sorts of things that consultants take for granted
• Although having been somewhat involved in the technical community since early 2018, I decided to step it up a notch. I aimed to interact more, and applied to speak at 3 User Group gatherings in the UK (I only got accepted for one, admittedly, and was really nervous!)
• I started a personal brand – The CRM Ninja!
• I set up a Twitter account in June. At this time of writing, I have over 1600 direct tweets, and 328 followers!
• I started a blog at the same time – this blog! I also learned how to migrate it, when it turned out that the original host didn’t offer all of the functionality that I needed
• On the subject of my blog, I’ve done 62 blog posts (not including this one). Looking back I can’t believe how many I’ve done, and the sheer number that I’ve got lined up for next year
• I also started an interview series (The Oops Factor), which went live at the beginning of November. The aim for this was two-fold. Firstly to get myself out there and start being known, and secondly to find out lessons that people have learned along the way of their careers that we can share with the community to help better us all. I’m amazed at how well it’s been going, and have already got a list of people who want to appear on the show in 2020
• I pushed myself out of my comfort zone, and started approaching people to ask them to come on my show, or to share information with me. I also started tweeting to (major) people in the technical scene, and have been amazed to actually receive replies (when Charles Lamanna replied to one that I did, it was 3am in the UK – I happened to wake up, check my phone, and got SO excited that I couldn’t fall back to sleep
• I asked someone to be my mentor (Chris – I wouldn’t have let you said no!). I then asked someone else, and they’ve now become my coach
• I took 6 certification exams, having not taken any in a while – got my MCSA and MCSE. It would have been 7, but I had an issue with one, so rescheduled the 7th one to 2020 (I’ll actually be taking it this weekend)
• My grandmother passed away – the last of my grandparents. She had Alzheimer’s and dementia, so it was a relief to be honest, but still sad.
• Left my job – it wasn’t turning out to be the right fit for me
• My sister got engaged

Looking forward to 2020, I’ve been drawing up a list of goals and things that I want to achieve in it. So here goes (there will obviously be more that happens during the year…):

• Find a new job that’s the right fit for me. I now have a better idea of what I’m looking for, and already have some great leads (thanks Alison!)
• Speak at more community events
• Become (more) known for Omnichannel for Dynamics, which is what I’m mostly blogging about. Really own that space
• Find shows (podcasts etc) that I can get invited on
• Lose weight & getting in shape. I’m an early backer and beta tester for BionicGym (check it out if you’re interested). I received my first unit in Dec 2018, and the progress was going well. Due to various things happening in 2019, I slacked off with it. My aim for 2020 will be to use it (I’ll be receiving my production unit as well soon) and really get in shape!
• Host a global online webinar, sharing information and knowledge with others
• Continue with all of the Dynamics exams, and pass them all (well, most of them – not so sure about the developer ones…)
• Continue being mentored. I may ask someone else to be my third mentor
• Look to mentor someone myself!
• Continue to build my social media presence. Aiming to have 1000 Twitter followers by the end of 2020, and at least 100 YouTube channel subscribers
• Read at least two self-improvement books a month (these can also be how to work better in business etc). I’ve got 7 sitting on my shelf at the moment to start with!
• Continue to build my technical domain knowledge, and branch out a bit. Azure – this is looking at you….
• Spend more quality time with my children
• Complete building my new garden shed (today I finished getting the base area ready – now need to put down rubble, mesh, and then get the concrete poured)
• Make better use of my time, both with work things as well as personal stuff
• Get a new personal computer system. I’ll miss my Alienware 18, but it’s getting really old (and having issues)
• Continue interacting with random technical people, and learn from them
• Go out on my motorbike more
• Try my BEST to get Satya Nadella and Charles Lamanna on my interview series

So, here’s to wishing you all an amazing and wonderful year ahead, and getting to know more of you!