Retro #2 - 200 Articles in the Zone

For the last seven years of my career, I have been living the Agile methodology.  Needless to say, participating in the periodic ceremonies have become commonplace for me.  

Following the example I created when my 100th article on DZone was published on April 5, 2017, my 200th article for DZone will be a retrospective of my last 99 articles – spanning from April 13, 2017 through August 24, 2017.  I plan to cover what fared well with DZone readers and what failed to connect to the same audience. 

I will toss in my favorite three articles at the end, as well.

The Top Three

Using pageviews as a metric, the top three original articles since April 13, 2017 have yielded a combined 400,000+ page views.  I am so grateful that these articles reached the level of popularity that they did.

• When Will 100% Remote Be an Accepted Norm? – this November 2017 original focused on understanding when corporations will realize that the benefits to supporting a fully-remote workforce likely outweigh the assumptions that staff need to work alongside each other in a corporate facility.

• How Geddy Lee Changed My Perspective – while this article was published in July 2017, the original inspiration was fostered decades earlier, when I was far younger and a student of music ... and the band of Rush.  I learned a great deal from the interview with Geddy Lee ... lessons I still reflect upon today.

• RESTful API – what was part of a DZone guide, this article focused on making sure your RESTful API has the necessary security considerations in place.  Here, the focus was more about core concepts and less about obscure metaphors.

The Bottom Three

Conversely, these three articles only yielded 26,600 combined page views — sending the signal that these articles were not of a great interest to the DZone community.

• Is Your Management Style Stuck in the Stone Age? — with a similar vibe to my most popular article, this article was my least popular article for the same time period.  Here I wanted to point out areas that should be improved upon, which did include the ability to work from a remote location.  

• RAML or OpenAPI — How About Both? — while I was excited about MuleSoft's ability to support both API standards, I guess I might have been one of a select few who shared the same degree of passion with the functionality introduced by the team at Mule.

• When You Know It's Time for a Career Change — this May 2017 article builds upon a story I have told for years and how it was well past time for an individual to seek another opportunity for employment.  I guess this is the kind of story which is better told in person.

My Favorite Three

As a contributor to DZone, there are some articles that I was really excited to write about.  All of which fared well with the readers and hopefully provided some insight:

• The Equifax Series (Equifax Attack: Only a Matter of Time, Equifax Issues Continue — Technical Debt at the Core, Equifax ... Seriously? and Equifax Operates NCTUE Agency and the Panera Bread Situation) allowed me to provide a real-time case study of how to avoid data breaches and how to handle a situation in the midst of a data-related disaster.

• Things I Still Don't Quite Understand — was a fun exploration into items which are almost comical in our world, when you step back and look at them from a distance.

• What Fireworks Are In Your Application? — allowed me to give an example of how feature developers might be going the extra mile to generate more "oohs" and "aahs" when the Product Owner is asking for something far less intense.

Conclusion

I've learned that topics that are a strong interest to me, may not be top-of-mind for the majority of DZone readers.  One example is the RAML or OpenAPI article that was one of my less viewed articles.  However, I felt like I had my finger on the pulse when I explored the concept of being 100% remote as an IT professional.

Like anything else, some things will work and some will not.  I am excited to continue my journey to 300 articles as a fortunate member of the DZone team.  My backlog currently contains 145 lines of thoughts and ideas.  I can't wait to share some of these thoughts with you!

Have a really great day!