Unlocking Potential: A Blog About Learning, Leading, and Building a Future

Welcome! I’m excited to discuss issues I’ve faced and how I’ve overcome them, and practical ways anyone can improve their project management and leadership skills.

A brief version of my CV is available at my Skills & Expertise page.

My Core Ideas

I will be focusing on a couple of core themes: continuously learning and teaching what you’ve learned, technology, and sustainability, with a thread of creativity to tie them together.

Throughout my life I’ve been passionate about learning and understanding the world around me. Learning a subject is only complete when it’s put into practice, and mastery comes when you can teach a subject to others. As I cover different topics, from technical to abstract, I will be sharing what I’ve learned with a focus on how they can be practically implemented.

Technology has fascinated me since childhood. I considered a Computer Science degree, but chose Art - thinking that either might lead to a career in game design, something which will come up again in future posts. My experience has been primarily in system administration: running Gentoo Linux, flashing OpenWRT on routers or LineageOS on phones. It was only recently that I began serious programming, partly to understand the developer perspective, and partly to reach a long-term goal of creating video games. Using Python I created a program which creates a library of games to help select what to do with limited time, and provides insights on the library.

Finally there’s sustainability-both environmental and personal. Personal sustainability is: building resilient individuals and teams, fostering a culture of growth and well-being. This moves past just managing processes to growing skills, encouraging creativity, and open communication so everyone is heard and knows both their strengths and weaknesses. I believe that coaching and mentoring are the core of leadership, so I’ll share practical approaches for individuals and teams.

Connection to the Blog

I’ve put my Python knowledge to use in a personal project which I’ll describe in detail. While I won’t do code deep-dives, by explaining my process and considerations I think that even non-coders will gain insight on technical problem solving. Beyond Python I will discuss learning the Qt GUI framework, and my attempts to make a friendly but deep interface.

With my experience on large and small projects, I’ll discuss Project Management skills and techniques. As I find interesting articles on project management, and leadership, I’ll share and comment on them here.

Forthcoming Posts

I have an overview of the Python project done, which you can find here. The next post will discuss choosing an API provider, after that I will cover the challenges I had with authentication and my program’s goals. Shortly after that I will discuss the database setups I tried, and my eventual solution.

I’ve been using Kanban to manage personal projects, and will discuss my experience with it and several services which provide Kanban boards after I’ve covered the initial technical details of the Python project.

My history is in giving hands-on training to others, so I expect to learn and keep improving as I go. I hope that you will stay and explore with me, and share your thoughts and insights.

Photo by Ioann-Mark Kuznietsov on Unsplash