Putting 2006 behind us, of course it’s time to set down our resolutions for the new year. The thing that makes resolutions different from goals or plans is the idea that achieving them is primarily a matter of will or resolve. They can be…
- quantitative (lose 20 pounds!) or qualitative (eat healthier!)
- subjective (be a better person!) or objective (spend 10 hours a month helping out my favorite charity!)
- personal (appreciate the little things more!) or altruistic (make the world a better place!)
…but they are things that challenge us because they challenge our ability to overcome our limitations, our conditioning and our environment.
Of course, I’ve got my list of personal resolutions…..drop 20 pounds, finish the Cooper River Bridge Run in under 50 minutes, and complete a lengthy list of home improvement projects….just to name a few. However, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to try and come up with a New Year’s Resolution that has an impact on our Products team at Blackbaud and, by extension, the products we deliver. While surfing the web looking for some ideas, most of what I found centered on resolutions like “write more reusable code”, “comply with web standards” or “do more usability testing”; all worthwhile goals, but they didn’t capture my imagination or feel like what I was looking for.