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"But as the business matures, I've come to realize that blogging is holding me back." How so? Does he mean in terms of time commitment. It seems like this a

by nkh 17y ago

"But as the business matures, I've come to realize that blogging is holding me back." How so? Does he mean in terms of time commitment. It seems like this a great marketing function, and would continue to be. I certainly would have never heard of Fog Creek without it.

SamAtt 17y ago
I haven't read the article but I think I can see where he's coming from. The developer market is pretty much saturated as far as marketing is concerned. If you're a developer you know who Joel is. So continuing to blog won't yield as many customers as spending time on marketing to other segments. I personally think it would be smarter to slow his posting frequency rather than quit all together but anyone whose read Joel's blog knows he has a certain love for the dramatic.
- runevault 17y ago
  He can't slow down posting to his blog TOO much, it's a shock when new content comes up as it is.
  - smackfu 17y ago
    I just looked and it actually seems like he picked up posting a bit more than he used to. For most of 2009 and maybe earlier, it was just product announcements and links to his column (which always seemed dumbed down.)
- 9oliYQjP 17y ago
  I went to one of his StackOverflow Dev Days. While I didn't speak to him, I caught glimpses of him every so often standing by himself amongst a sea of developers that made me think that he's getting a bit bored with... things... for lack of a better term. I'm not sure whether "things" would be his business, software development, or a combination of things in his life. The problem with being Joel from JoelOnSoftware is that you have to always be on. You can't ever have an opinion about anything without getting into a discussion with someone about it. Like you, I hope he just goes on sabbatical. Blogging/writing on a regular basis is a lot like polling vs event-driven programming. Joel's been polling himself way too often trying to come up with something to write so that he can publish something. When you poll for something, 90% of the time you'll find the thing you're precisely NOT interested in. I'm sure he'll be back when there's something good to talk about.
zmonteca 17y ago
Holding him back from making more $$$$ doing other things. That's the way I see it. If you're a blogging you know how much time and energy a high-quality blog post takes. If you don't invest a lot of time into your posts, most likely they are not good. That's my opinion, anyway.
bootload 17y ago
"... But as the business matures, I've come to realize that blogging is holding me back ..." SO83 ~ http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail4403.html http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail4403.html goes into detail why? There is an audience bigger than blog reading, tech/web crowd. There is also the time poor "Exec" for example, who carry a Blackberry and read email all the time but not the Web. This is a tactic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Calacanis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Calacanis devised to reach a broader audience. Create an email list a broader audience can read. - blogging: to market his company & product to developers - podcasting: to market stackoverflow & his company to developers - email: to market stackoverflow to execs in prep for IPO and broader business market I always watch what Joel does carefully because changes he make signal new opportunities.
ganley 17y ago
A long while back William Gibson quit blogging, saying (IIRC) that having an easy outlet for his little thoughts was keeping him from incubating them into big thoughts. Perhaps this is something similar. FWIW, Gibson eventually started again.

by nkh 17y ago

SamAtt 17y ago

I haven't read the article but I think I can see where he's coming from. The developer market is pretty much saturated as far as marketing is concerned. If you're a developer you know who Joel is. So continuing to blog won't yield as many customers as spending time on marketing to other segments. I personally think it would be smarter to slow his posting frequency rather than quit all together but anyone whose read Joel's blog knows he has a certain love for the dramatic.

runevault 17y ago
He can't slow down posting to his blog TOO much, it's a shock when new content comes up as it is.
- smackfu 17y ago
  I just looked and it actually seems like he picked up posting a bit more than he used to. For most of 2009 and maybe earlier, it was just product announcements and links to his column (which always seemed dumbed down.)
9oliYQjP 17y ago
I went to one of his StackOverflow Dev Days. While I didn't speak to him, I caught glimpses of him every so often standing by himself amongst a sea of developers that made me think that he's getting a bit bored with... things... for lack of a better term. I'm not sure whether "things" would be his business, software development, or a combination of things in his life. The problem with being Joel from JoelOnSoftware is that you have to always be on. You can't ever have an opinion about anything without getting into a discussion with someone about it. Like you, I hope he just goes on sabbatical. Blogging/writing on a regular basis is a lot like polling vs event-driven programming. Joel's been polling himself way too often trying to come up with something to write so that he can publish something. When you poll for something, 90% of the time you'll find the thing you're precisely NOT interested in. I'm sure he'll be back when there's something good to talk about.

zmonteca 17y ago

Holding him back from making more $$$$ doing other things. That's the way I see it. If you're a blogging you know how much time and energy a high-quality blog post takes. If you don't invest a lot of time into your posts, most likely they are not good. That's my opinion, anyway.

bootload 17y ago

"... But as the business matures, I've come to realize that blogging is holding me back ..." SO83 ~ http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail4403.html http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail4403.html goes into detail why? There is an audience bigger than blog reading, tech/web crowd. There is also the time poor "Exec" for example, who carry a Blackberry and read email all the time but not the Web. This is a tactic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Calacanis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Calacanis devised to reach a broader audience. Create an email list a broader audience can read. - blogging: to market his company & product to developers - podcasting: to market stackoverflow & his company to developers - email: to market stackoverflow to execs in prep for IPO and broader business market I always watch what Joel does carefully because changes he make signal new opportunities.

ganley 17y ago

A long while back William Gibson quit blogging, saying (IIRC) that having an easy outlet for his little thoughts was keeping him from incubating them into big thoughts. Perhaps this is something similar. FWIW, Gibson eventually started again.