One thing I’ve learned is just to get started, not wait for the “perfect solution.”
Once I start mucking around with my data, my thinking, I find that my biased thinking gets challenged and new processes emerge, if I’m open to them. I’ve stopped asking, “why does TBX not work this way?” Rather, I’ve started asking, “I want to accomplish this, i.e., an output. Here are my inputs. How might I use the tools that TBX provides to transform my data, generate insight and get from there to there? What additional data do I need? What can the different views give me? If there isn’t a view, what template do I need to produce on my own to create my own view? Again, what exactly am I trying to do? If I’m stuck, can I ask the community?..etc.”
Invariable, I find that as I go through these questions, biases are knocked down or smoothed, new processes emerge, or I really do need to go to the community for help. I find that as I’m asking my question to the community, about half the time, the answer pops into my head, and I don’t actually need to ask the question, or it will shortly after I ask the question. Some questions are intractable and take a week or two (rarely longer) for me to find a path to the insight I want. VERY rarely, do I have to approach @eastgate or backstage to request a feature or call out unexpected app behaviors (in some VERY rare cases, there is a real bug that is fixed VERY quickly). On backstage, in the community, with @TomD, or with @eastage, more often than not, I’m given a deeper perspective that helps me look at the problem in a totally new way which leads to totally new solutions. And then the cycle repeats.
What is the result of this process?
- 10 + 3 years ago I could accomplish nothing
- 2 years ago I could write an article
- 1 year ago I could draft a book
- This summer I wrote over 30 articles, 100 posts, and over 1000 pages for 3 different reports (all in Tinderbox)
- Today, I integrated Tinderbox and an App via the command line to manage time (local for me in TBX) and on an enterprise level for my clients via the app (Clockify).
This time horizon may sound daunting but take heart. I’ve taught people in 6 weeks to do what has taken me a few years to learn. What I’ve learned is that progress is less about the tech and more about attitude. It is about focussing on input and output. It is about leveraging the community. It is about experimentation (i.e., failing until you get “it” done). It is about getting it to work to get something done (sometimes outside of Tinderbox if there is a time crunch). Then once done, revisit to refine. I’ve learned, through Tinderbox, more than just Tinderbox. I’ve learned fundamental life skills: community, friendship, communication, parking the ego, experimentation, thinking, writing, and languages (English, RegEx, CSS, HTML, Comand Line, some Javascript, etc.). All these skills have transcended TInderbox, I use them in all that I do and am.
The journey is so very worth it!!!