On August 12, 2005, I hit “Publish” on my first blog post. I didn’t know it then, but that click would start a habit that’s shaped how I think, learn, teach, and live.
Twenty years later, here’s a look back — through the numbers, the stories, and the patterns that only emerge when you zoom out far enough.
📊 By the Numbers
- 550+ posts
- 247,628 total words (the equivalent of 8–10 short books, or 3–4 Deep Works)
- Peak year: 2020, with 78 posts and 28k+ words
- Wordiest year: 2025, averaging 682 words per post
📊 Engagement Shifts
- Early years: lively comment threads.
- Recent years: more likes, fewer comments — reflecting broader shifts in reader habits.
💡 Fun Facts
- Started on Microsoft Live Spaces; moved to WordPress in 2010.
- Original tagline: “Why do we do this again…?” — still a guiding question.
- Some 20-year-old lessons are still in rotation (spiral learning in action).
- Many posts started as personal notes and evolved into talks or book chapters.
🛠️ The Through-Line of Growth
Craft → Productivity → Systems Thinking → Outcome Thinking → AI-Augmented Leverage
- Master the craft (code)
- Master the how (habits, tools, teams)
- Master the why (business problems)
- Now: master the multiplier (AI that turns ideas into software at conversation speed)
📚 A Milestone Year for Publishing
This anniversary also marks the release of my book, 20 Lessons from 20 Years of Blogging — a curated collection of insights, quotes, and reflections from across the decades. Each lesson is short, accessible, and paired with a prompt to help readers apply it to their own journey.
And it’s not just the book — I’ve launched a weekly newsletter, Back to the Spiral, to keep the reflection going. Each issue revisits lessons from the past, connects them to the present, and explores where they might lead next. Subscribe to get the book for FREE (offer valid through August 31).
🔮 What’s Next?
If history rhymes, the next decade isn’t about choosing the next framework; it’s about designing feedback loops where humans, knowledge systems, and AI co-evolve — and inviting others to join that jam session.
Expect more:
- Coaching for dev teams to leverage AI in their process
- Productized knowledge from 20 years of archives
- Hybrid creator-builder experiments (voice-note → shipped feature)
Twenty years in, I’m still asking: Why do we do this again…? Because the act of showing up, reflecting, and sharing keeps paying dividends — for me, and, I hope, for you too.
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