It’s Not About the Tools

I’ve focused on tools for way too long. Back when I played guitar, I thought that if I bought a better guitar it would make me a better player. After that, I thought a faster computer would make me a more efficient programmer. Even more recently, I thought I needed a Mac to be a great web designer.

Now I have an expensive guitar, a fast PC, even a MacBook Pro, but my skills haven’t changed at all. I’m a decent guitar player. I can program anything I want, given enough time. I still couldn’t design a beautiful web page to save my life. But, I do feel like I’ve learned a valuable lesson.

I’ve been saying for years now that I was going to start a software business, but so far I’ve gotten no where. My problem is, again, focusing on the tools. My first big web application was written in Perl. Then I heard about PHP and started working with it. Then I moved on to the latest craze – Ruby on Rails. Now I’m looking at Python and Django.

Thankfully, I’ve finally seen the error of my ways. I’m ready now to stop worrying about the tools and just build something. I know enough about each one to make an educated decision and that’s all I need to know.

One last example – the old me would’ve never written this post. It’s late at night and I would’ve had to go into the office and either sit at the PC or get out my laptop. Instead I just grabbed a pen and some paper and I’m scribbling this down while I sit on the bed. How’s that for getting things done.

Using the right tool for the job is important, but it’s more important to focus on getting the job done.

Sold!

I recently sold the domain EdTechForum.com to a nice guy from New Jersey. I’m not sure if anyone I know was even visiting that site. Just in case, be aware that I don’t own it anymore.

The new owner seems to be doing a great job with it. His design is very nice and it seems to have a lot more features than what I had.

The process of transferring the name to someone else was a little more complicated than I expected it to be. Surely this is something that happens all the time?

What I finally ended up doing was updating the WHOIS information with his name and e-mail address. He was then able to transfer the domain to his registrar. I’m not sure if this was the correct way to do it, but it got the job done.