Q4 2024 quarterly reflection
For many years I was just relaxing and drifting. Then I took hold of the wheel and started to steer. Finally I have a direction to point in.
It is the start of Q4 2024, so it seems like a good time to reflect and plan. First, a look at how the year has progressed so far:
Good progress on changing career direction. For a three or four years I have wanted to move my career from one focused on managing web development to a more creative one focusing information and data visualization. And in the last couple of years I have wanted to create processes for info and data vis with AI. The good thing is that I am progressing very well towards that goal. My paid professional work is now all focused on data processing and visualization, and I’m starting to make progress in my own time developing novel information visualization techniques using AI.
But no public visibility. On the downside, the client work I do is all confidential information, and so I can’t share any of it publicly. This means that, although I am rapidly becoming an expert in info and data visualization, including novel bespoke visualizations, there is not much I can show for it. I have been working towards creating things I can share publicly since the start of the year, but I’ve not actually created any end-results that I can show. So I want to make a change in my processes to achieve that.
So how can I change the current state of affairs to get public visibility on my info vis abilities? Over time I have developed some reasonably good productivity processes, but they are not resulting in the outcomes I want. Why is that?
- I have lots of ideas and so I get distracted easily.
- I spend a lot of time creating good processes that I then don’t use. (I like creating processes!)
- I abandon good process habits when I get distracted by new things.
Goals
So what will I change this quarter? What is my end goal? I want to have stuff that demonstrates that I am an expert in data in information visualization. So what do I need/want to do towards that end?
A “pixel-perfect” HD slide layout grid I created with D3.
Create and share visuals in code.
I have been writing essays for some time now as a learning in public technique. I want to take that to the next level by being able to programmatically create visualizations like Stephen Wolfram does with his “computational essays”, and to be as fluent at that as is necessary to create them quickly. These visuals can serve both as illustrations in essays and as slides for presentations.
I spent some time on coming up with a process for creating video presentations, automatically generating them from source files using FFmpeg.
Create presentations on Information Visualization topics.
I recently set up an Information Visualization Group 1. My intent is to do presentations on relevant topics and record the sessions so I can convert them into online presentations.
1 Website. | Meetup group.
My hand drawn title for The Charles Darwin Timeline Project, which I hope to create by the end of this year.
Create an innovative Information Visualization
I want to create an innovative Information Visualization using the news techniques I have developed. I have lots of ideas for new ways to present data and information, and have spent a lot of time experimenting with techniques, but little of that effort has resulted in publicly visible work. I need to change that. An idea I keep experimenting with is to do an information visualization on the life of Charles Darwin.
An example of a hand-drawn image I have created during my daily commute.
Make and share hand-drawn images and diagrams.
I spent quite a bit of time creating methods for converting hand made drawings to visuals that look good on web pages, like the example above. I used them in visual essays like these:
It’s a shame I stopped because drawing is a great way to spend my morning commute, and I think the illustrations give personality to online essays and presentations. I got some great feedback from them. So I need to start doing those things again. [Update 8 Nov — I started again!]
Steve Jobs thinks I’m an idiot, probably.
Steve disagrees
Of course my imaginary Steve Jobs 2 is saying I should only focus on one thing. Why don’t I just do the Charles Darwin visualization? Well I’m not trying to make a billion dollars or change the world, and focusing on one thing is boring. But of course Steve makes a good point. Is the reason I’m not making progress because I’m trying to do too many things? Well that’s part of the problem, but another part is not being consistent and not planning enough, so let’s solve those issues and if I still don’t get anywhere then perhaps it will be time to listen to Steve. But not yet.
Changes
Processes and habits
So, to achieve these things, what do I need to do? Fortunately the changes don’t need to be very large, because I have already refined the required processes and have everything in place. The hard thing is to get the discipline to do these things consistently, and not to waste time on distractions.
So my new processes/habits are:
- Make sure I use my commute time wisely by planning what I am going to do beforehand and keeping a record of progress.
- Plan what I’m going to do during my non-client work days. Make sure it fits my goals, and keep a record of progress.
To those ends I going to do the following two habits during Q4 2024:
- Drawing on my commute. This is an old habit that I have lost and want to regain.
- Weeknotes. This is a new habit. The idea is each week, either on Friday afternoon or Sunday, to write what I’ve done during the week and to plan the following week.
Initial plan
What concrete things do I want to do?
- Essays on information Visualization.
- Start doing visual essays where I both:
- Learn and use D3 (assisted by AI).
- Progress the Charles Darwin Timeline Project.
- These essays can incorporate cartoons I do on my morning commute.
- Start doing visual essays where I both:
- Presentations/videos on Information Visualization.
- Set up a meetup in my Info Vis group and prepare for it.
- Using Artificial Intelligence in Design and Information Visualization work.
These can all essentially be subtasks of the end goal of creating the Charles Darwin Timeline.
Next steps
Side note — a change to PARA
I have been using a modified version of the PARA method for a while now. The PARA method is a simple way of “Organizing Your Digital Life”. It has four categories — Projects, Areas, Resources, Archive. The most useful idea is to have a projects folder — that is things you are currently working on that you intend to finish. The Areas section is for long term things that you always do. This method of categorizing things by time is great, but it’s not perfect. I think the biggest flaw is that it has no category for the future. This has meant that my projects folder became a queue for things that I wanted to do in the future, or for ideas on hold until I had time to do them. I have a lot of ideas, so the projects folder — which should just contain a two or three current projects — filled up with other ideas for the future I didn’t want to loose. So I’ve created a new category I call Aspirations. This contains things I want to do in the future, and ideas. This is what my annual folder system now looks like:
