IN DEPTH #8 / LEARNING FROM THE ALUMNI PROJECT

One of the things I absolutely love about software development is that we are always learning; if you’re not always learning new ways of collaborating, new ways of making things, and your work life stays pretty much the same every day, you’re probably not doing it right.

In that spirit, here are a few things I’ve learned in the course of the Central City Opera Foundry Project so far:

• There is more hunger for this project from at least some of the potential users to whom I’ve already spoken than I had initially anticipated. I suppose that’s not a useful metric, per se, but it matters to me in terms of inspiration.

• I’ve gravitated towards design- and product-oriented roles in this field because they reflect things I’ve already been doing, been around, or been playing with since I was a kid. Diving headlong into this project — it feels right.

• In taking a hard look at my personal history, I’ve done more design work overall in my life than I’d hitherto given myself credit for.

• While certainly not required for every project, yours truly having some meaningful domain expertise for this one (i.e., the art form and biz of opera) has provided a very welcome boost in getting all of this off the ground.

• I’m pretty good at it, but the art of inspiring and persuading others to act is still hard.

• I am surrounded by people who really want me to succeed in this endeavor, and it inspires me to help return the favor and pay it forward more and more, every single day.

• I probably haven’t had this much fun creating something entirely new in years.

• This is only the beginning; there is much work yet to be done.