Despite my best attempts, this blog post is stilll almost 2 months late. For all the talk about consistency, I was still unable to put pen to paper and get things done.

This happened even though I had numerous ideas about what to write, going as far as to write outlines and code samples but never actually putting it together.

I don’t think it was the difficulty of finding topics, I think it was the dread and expectation of the arduousness and pain I would need to go through to actually craft a piece. That probably wouldn’t end up being that hot anyway.

There is a mantra that’s grown more common among software folks in the last few years. Ship fast, Ship often. It works because you get used to the pain, rather than forgetting it. It works because you find ways to deal with what’s constantly in your face, rather than hours slogging through it each time.

It’s not a new invention. Successful blog writers have long advocated the virtues of releasing consistently with a schedule. And I’ve always thought I’d be good at following a schedule. When I was in school, my annual report card usually had some remark about “high self discipline”. As it turns ot, following what someone tells you to do is not the same as following goals you set for yourself.

Being obedient is not the same as being as being self motivated.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, I was a reasonable runner. I even took part in a 4 x 100 track relays for my class. It was a time when I would run around 6km every Sunday. I would meet Mr. Wee, a friend of mine, at the same place every Sunday morning and we would jog down for breakfast.

We didn’t always make it all the way there (sometimes we even skipped the run altogether!), but we would show up.

Years later, as I’m writing this here in Dublin, all that seems rather far away. I’m not sure when we’ll make it back to Sydney for any extended period of time, and I’m even worse at keeping in touch with the folks from Singapore.

Who knows what the future holds, or where this post actually leading to. I do know I had to get it out, even though no one was really pushing me to. And it cannot end without a solution, because what seems like the hopelessness of a hopeless problem is a poor excuse for not trying to solve it.

So I’ll ship fast and ship often, with a blog every Saturday. Next one will be on ¹⁵⁄₁₁, so stay tuned!