I will be judging you at Bizspark Startup Camp

I will be judging you … well if you are entered into the Bizspark Azure Startup camp that is on the weekend of 10th/11th April.

I hope to see lots of great ideas and then see someone walk away with a cool $5000 that can help them bring their idea to market.

BLOW: Keeping focused

I thought it was time for me to get back to some old routines and one thing I enjoy doing is reflecting over the week that has been and think about where I can improve. I used to do this with a weekly blog post more for my own self growth then any value to others, but none the less people have commented that they have found things helpful.

I have a weakness that I tend to jump around from one project to another, as I get bored with the job at hand I find other things to do. This week I caught myself pressing “New Project” within visual studio, just for an hour I told myself … I quickly caught myself and put myself back to the deadlines and tasks at hand. The problem is I caught myself doing it three times in a day each time with a self made excuse such as “I could use this to build my skills”.

The solution is to set yourself short goals that are achievable in the day and celebrate the victories, reaching a goal makes the slog will worth it

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Windows Phone 7 Series Developer Story in Sydney

I will be speaking at this months Sydney Mobile User Group meeting about what is new for developers in the Windows Phone 7, and believe me there is lots.

Everyone is welcome so come along and have a beer and a lively discussion about all things mobile. Simply RSVP at http://bit.ly/bHR9sx

My visit to MIX10

I was lucky enough to get an invite to this years Microsoft MIX10 conference, one of the great things about attending US conferences is the ability to listen to some of the best IT people in the world. In this day, the ability to watch the sessions over web of course reduces this but there is nothing like after the sessions catching up and chatting one on one with these great people.

The big news at the conference and the reason for the invite was to learn all about Windows Phone 7 Series, its great to see Microsoft getting its mojo back in this space. Although there is some nice to have limitations with the device, all in all its a great device and puts Microsoft back in the mobility space.

There has been some complaints from developers about the sandboxing of the applications but honestly this is a good thing to give the consumer control over their device and a good user experience. I am sorry Mr developer but its not up to you to say which app should be in control of the device so play fair in the sandpit.

Looking forward to catching up with lots of people back in Australia and sharing this information as we roll out Metro training and other events like ReMix and TechEd. If you want access to some free training then watch this space as we will soon will announce the ability to join the Metro training.

Hope your excited about the 7 Series device as much as I am

Getting to know … Performance Design

I had a chat with Mark Pickering from Performance Design (www.performancedesign.com.au), which is a company that builds performance tools for RX-8.

Mark talked about the importance of finding a suitable business partner and setting suitable goals for people involved and the affect that had on his business.

It is important that your able to set clear goals to people, in the standard work world its easy you turn up to work do your defined task and then you will get paid, but in the startup world these rules are flexible. Make sure before you start a project you have sat down with the person and both of you can answer : you will do W by X and if you do then you get Y if not then Z will happen. If you can do that then

The business lesson of the week was the art of judging when you should keep at something and when you shouldnt. Are you the crazy old miner that is seeking gold when its all over or are you the inch away from the jackpot seam ?

Mark is looking for people who can help him with some marketing strategy, can you help him or know somebody who can ? Why not drop a line to me @jamesmcc and we can record an interview about what advice you would give.