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Kinda Pausing
Happy New Year! I’ve decided to take the OPM Letter off of the weekly schedule and will adopt an “occasional” publishing schedule. Let me indulge in a solipsistic discussion of the first half-year of this project.
I started this newsletter because I was curious about what it would be like to enter the “influencer” game. I’ve kept this blog for the past decade with minimal traffic and I was curious what it would take to garner an active readership. TLDR: it takes way more work than I’m willing to invest.
I started with a bang, preparing a massive backlog of letters, which is why I was able to maintain a weekly schedule for the past half-year despite getting addicted to an online card game for most of that time. Fortunately, I quit the addiction over the holidays so I’m not worried about wasting 2022 as well. However, this detour made me realize that getting good at the influencer game isn’t my thing.
I made this decision a couple of weeks ago, but life is funny – at the same moment, I posted my most well-received OPM letter on Linkedin. However, after pondering my next steps over the holidays I realized that going off a regular schedule is still the right move. I enjoy reading and writing, but I don’t care for the hard work of “publishing”; even the extra half hour of formatting these letters was grating.
I’ve long held that if you don’t want to do the shit work, then it’s a sign to move on. Especially since I’m also about to enter the busy season at my Division. We do our biennial budgeting process (estimating a boatload of Agency requested Capital Improvement Projects). So between taxes, preparations ahead of “hurricane CIP”, and the actual three-month whirlwind, I decided that it’s best to go sporadic.
I’m not yet ready to just kill the newsletter. I’ve created an infrastructure and it would be a shame to just burn it down on a whim. So I’ll return to your inbox on a sporadic basis until I decide upon a regular schedule or give it a proper closing.
We’ll see where the OPM Letter goes, but I quite appreciate the few of you who have subscribed to this letter and wish y’all new journeys for 2022.
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A Question
Have you had a project that requires a mid-course correction? How did it play out?
Hit reply and let’s chat!
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A Link
One of my last projects in private practice was a master plan for the track facilities for Coach Yvonne Wade. She was one of the most impressive clients I’ve worked with. This podcast interview with her and her husband is a good case study of what it takes to be great in a field.
… and a photo.
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Thanks for reading the OPM letter! I’d love to have a conversation if you have any feedback. I hope you found some prompts to stretch your craft and relationships as a curious Owner PM. See you next soon!
Stay humble, be kind, and keep experimenting!
Justus Pang, RA