sacha chua

At the team-building event the other day, I got to meet a number of other people who had been with IBM for a number of years. Several people told me stories about projects planned using at least 80-hour weeks, of high turnover and stressful environments, but also the increased responsibilities and career opportunities for people who stay with those projects. Other people talked about priorities and intentionally limiting the number of hours they worked in order to make time for other things, their happiness with their decisions, and the support they received from the company. It made me think about what work I love to do and how I want to live.

I'm getting a better idea of the work I enjoy doing. Here's a rough sketch:

• I love sharing what I'm passionate about, helping people learn more and become more effective, and encouraging people to grow. In my current role, I get to do plenty of presenting, conducting workshops, coaching, and writing. People appreciate not only the information I share but also the enthusiasm with which I share it and the thoughtfulness with which I help people learn.
• I love learning about all sorts of things. I'm currently working on visual literacy, and I'm looking forward to using the Cintiq tablet to experiment with graphics even more. I also love learning about social networking, communication skills, and other topics that I can share with people around me.
• I love connecting people with other people, ideas, or tools. It gives me a thrill whenever I can introduce people to just the right person who can help them do what they want, to a book or article that fits their interests, or to a tool they'll love.
• I love exercising my creativity and helping people brainstorm. As part of my work, I often get to help people brainstorm Web 2.0 business ideas, and I really enjoy bringing in things I've learned from all the different aspects of my life.
• I enjoy working on lightweight projects based on open source technologies with vibrant user communities. I get to do this with my Drupal-based project and with my Emacs book. I love being able to read source code and learn from other people's contributions. I love sharing tips on my blog and learning more from others. I love giving back to the community, too!
• I can write technical documentation better than most developers can. And I don't mind doing it, too, as long as it doesn't require me to keep changing applications or operating systems.
• I don't like working on front-end interfaces, such as designing graphics, writing CSS, or trying to make a page look exactly like the design. I can do it, but I'd rather do a simple design.
• I really don't like working on cross-browser or cross-platform issues.
• I really don't like dealing with inconsistent, fiddly, or frustrating things such as bugs in one's operating system (really, my mouse should Just Work) or convoluted administrative paperwork. Some people enjoy solving problems like that. I don't.

I'd like to explore sales at some point, too. I want to find out if it might be a good fit for me, too, and I like the idea of helping people find the right solution for them.

So that's a general idea of my strengths. I love helping people be more effective, whether it's by sharing ideas or tips, connecting them with others, or building or tweaking tools for them. I enjoy software development and technical writing too, but mainly as a way of supporting my ability to help people be more effective. Those are the "whats," at least right now. What about the hows?

I don't see myself working on projects with unrealistic time expectations. I don't see myself sacrificing life for work or for career advancement. If I did, I'd be going up the ladder, yes, but it might be the wrong ladder for me.

The things I love doing and the things that make me special all require me to be happy and passionate about my work. I believe that I can be successful at them while living according to my values. I'm looking forward to seeing the kind of life I can build. =)

Have you thought about your whats and hows?

It's really quite odd. I've tried two USB mice (one wireless, one wired) on my Kubuntu system. They work well… once. The next time I try to use them, I'm lucky if I manage to get a minute of use out of them. Something is very wrong. =(

Anyway, that's enough time spent on mouse issues–one hour today, one hour yesterday! Pfft. I'll try it again later.

Here's a handy shortcut that toggles between the W3M web browser and other buffers you're working on. I use it to quickly switch between code and documentation (or your favorite timewasting site, as it also makes a handy boss key).

Define the function by adding the following code to your ~/.emacs:

(defun wicked/toggle-w3m ()
  "Switch to a w3m buffer or return to the previous buffer."
  (interactive)
  (if (derived-mode-p 'w3m-mode)
      ;; Currently in a w3m buffer
      ;; Bury buffers until you reach a non-w3m one
      (while (derived-mode-p 'w3m-mode)
	(bury-buffer))
    ;; Not in w3m
    ;; Find the first w3m buffer
    (let ((list (buffer-list)))
      (while list
	(if (with-current-buffer (car list)
	      (derived-mode-p 'w3m-mode))
	    (progn
	      (switch-to-buffer (car list))
	      (setq list nil))
	  (setq list (cdr list))))
      (unless (derived-mode-p 'w3m-mode)
	(call-interactively 'w3m)))))

Then bind it to a shortcut key sequence (F7 F7 in this example) by adding the following code to your ~/.emacs:

(global-set-key (kbd " ") 'wicked/toggle-w3m)

You can then use F7 F7 to switch back and forth between your web browser and whatever else you're working on.

Technorati Tags: emacs, w3m, wickedcoolemacs

My second and last week in the Philippines was more relaxed, but it was just as enjoyable as the first week. I spent most of the time working, and I learned a lot about documentation. I helped kickstart the first BarCampManila. I also got to spend more time with my parents, have high tea with my godparents, and watch Blades of Glory with friends. Leaving the Philippines was difficult - it always is - and I found myself near tears as I walked through the airport with W-. But it was a very good trip, and I was happy to have gone.

Work: I put on my technical writer hat and rewrote most of the documentation for the administrator, bringing it up to date and adding plenty of screenshots. I still haven't quite figured out if I should document the system as it currently is (which means revising it often) or as it will be (which means inconsistent documentation for work in progress). My project manager suggested this compromise: I'll document the system assuming some critical bugs are fixed on the production server, but leave other enhancements out of the manual.

I'm learning how to use doxygen to extract source code comments, too. I'd prefer to keep low-level design documentation close to the source code so that I can keep it up to date, and I definitely don't want to reboot to Windows and start both Lotus Notes and Microsoft Word every time I need to make a change. Doxygen looks like a good tool for documenting not only the functions but also the design of the system, and I'm looking forward to learning how to make it dance. Even with what I learned after half a day of study, I was already much more comfortable with it than with the idea of keeping our developer documentation in Word. I've gotten permission from my project manager to use it for our low-level documentation, and I've promised him an archive of HTML documents by Wednesday.

That wasn't the only thing I did during the second week of my vacation, of course. I had a lot of fun at BarCampManila, a hastily-organized unconference that went really well. I gave a short speech on why geeks should blog, and I hope I convinced a few people to make it a habit. I've also posted other notes about the event. Check them out!

My parents spent a lot of time with us that week. My dad took us flying in an ultralight, and W- got this totally amazing shot of the blue sky and the volcano reflecting off the ricefields. We also snuck into a photo summit lecture on portrait photography, and we picked up lots of tips. We passed by the zoo to say hi to Maali, and we took some fun pictures with the zoo animals. Once we sort our vacation pictures, I'll post the pics on my blog.

My goals for next week (well, this week, now) are:

• get back into the swing of work by finishing the admin guide and the developer documentation
• contact everyone I promised to get back to after the trip
• write three more posts about Emacs
• use my gadget budget for awesome (maybe get that Cintiq tablet; UPDATE: ordered!)

I've just ordered the Cintiq 12WX, a 12.1" pressure-sensitive tablet that also includes a screen so that you can see what you're working on. I think it's brilliant. It will probably be even more useful than the Lenovo X61 Tablet PC–the other gadget I was considering getting with the gadget fund I'd saved up.

I hope it will arrive in time for the four-day weekend we've got coming up. I'd love to use it to sketch my presentations, and W- will certainly enjoy using it to retouch photos.

I like this feeling. I knew I'd be in the market for some kind of drawing thing, so I started saving a few months ago. After I gave my Nintendo DS to my mom, I needed another drawing tool, and it was nice to know what I wanted AND know that I could freely get it.

More sketches to come!

Technorati Tags: cintiq, drawing, wacom