Today is the fourth birthday of this notebook. Following the convention I have established, this is a brief reflective post.
The first one was an explicit launch. The second, third, and fourth have all been similar — a quiet acknowledgement that the discipline continues.
Four years of weekly writing has produced something stable. The notebook is no longer an experiment; it is a habit. The habit produces value I would not get otherwise.
What is changing this year
I have committed to more conferences and more speaking. The notebook-in-isolation pattern has been gradually opening up; this is the year that opening becomes deliberate.
I have committed to writing something genuinely difficult — a piece I would not normally attempt. The topic is uncertain. The discipline is to push beyond what I currently find comfortable.
The rest is unchanged. Weekly cadence. British English. Internal links. Calibrated humility. Ongoing discipline.
A small request
If you have been corresponding with me, thank you. The conversations have been the year's best continuing reward. If you have been reading without corresponding, consider doing so. The notebook would be sustainable without readers; the readers make it more rewarding.
More in a week. The first technical post of 2002 is on the Trustworthy Computing memo, if it appears as scheduled.