I’m not great at New Year’s Resolutions.
My failure rate is a whole lot like a set of OKRs – designed to be stretched thin, aspirationally crazy, and audacious, and sometimes even just pipe dreams. I get parts of resolutions done, but the whole thing never happens. And, like many groups that adopt OKRs, that’s just fine.
When I think about what I want for 2022, things fall into buckets: what I want to do, how I want to be, and what I want to see.
What I Want To Do in 2022
I want to have an effect on my community. 2021 meant a lot of advocating for road safety in our part of DC, because of two deaths that happened in our neighborhood that didn’t need to, and more than 35 more that happened elsewhere in our city. I want to move the needle toward safer streets. This past week, we raised $100,000 in a day for WABA, and I want to work toward their goal of safe streets for everyone in DC in 2022.
I want to focus on giving back to my professional community, as well. The Mac Admins community is an incredibly special part of the world. This group of tens of thousands of IT professionals across the world is the best online community that I know of: Mac Admins share their code, their knowledge, their focus, their troubleshooting tips, their wisdom and their work. I want to help make the Mac Admins Community build a home that will last.
I want to keep building great tools for Mac Admins at JumpCloud. In 2021, I made a huge change and left my consulting practice to join the team at JumpCloud. Nine months in, I feel like I’m finally starting to understand our process, so I can chart a successful course in the new year. In that time, though, we’ve launched iOS management, and built a bunch of things that will start to come out in January. I want to make JumpCloud a top tier platform for managing Macs at scale. I know there’s a lot to do here. If you want a great challenge, we’ve got more than 50 positions open right now.
How I Want To Be in 2022
Look, I know it’s probably trite, but I think a lot about the darts scene from Season One of Ted Lasso. The mantra of “Be Curious, Not Judgmental” is a really great aspirational statement. Highlighting our own curiosity, and taking away unexplored judgments is a solid way to start. May we all hit our two triple twenties and a bullseye. Barbecue Sauce.
Something I started in 2021 was taking my son to school by bike, on the back of our cargo e-bike. I want badly to continue this through 2022. Miles that I bike are close to free, cause no environmental harm, let me be a closer part of my community, and they make my mind and body sharp. I want to ride 2,500 miles in 2022. Riding is a great way to get out and be active. Get a bike, go for a ride.
Saving your voice for the right moment is going to be a theme. Using my voice for good, for the benefit of many, is its best use. Now, I’m not here to say “Talk Less, Smile More” because that’s antithetical to the point. All our voices are needed. What we need is a little less snark and side-eye, and a little more empathy to the conversation. I’m trying real hard to be the shepherd, Ringo.
What I Want To See in 2022
This is where I get into dreaming, and where I expect that reality will have different ideas than my dreams.
I want to gather with my colleagues again. Since starting with JumpCloud in April, I’ve met less than a percent of my coworkers in person. Since JNUC 2019, we haven’t gathered in quantity as a community of Mac Admins. I am hopeful that MacADUK 2022 will break that streak, and I look forward to being in Brighton in late March.
I want better stories to tell about Mac Management in 2022. We got some new options to explore with iOS for User Enrollment in 2021, and I hope that Declarative Management arrives in some form on macOS in 2022. Admins are still missing some pretty pivotal options for controlled management, chief among them is allowing screen sharing easily with remotely installed tools. Walking a user through approving PPPC profiles is a lengthy process, full of frustration for all parties. This could get a lot better, and it should.
I want better leadership in my community. Doing the right thing is easy when it’s popular. A lot of the hard choices that face our city aren’t so clear cut. A city with half a billion dollars in surplus shouldn’t be clearing homeless encampments with forklifts. A city with half a billion dollars in surplus shouldn’t be struggling to make safe streets. Many of these things are harder without statehood for DC, and I hope that’s on the horizon, as well.
Lastly, and this is probably the most important thing: I want to see you succeed in 2022, also. One of the things that has been hardest for me over the last five years has been the erosion of community everywhere. For a group of people here, the cruelty of their actions has been the point. You can’t counter that with more cruelty. You have to raise all the boats with your high tide. It doesn’t seem just, but becoming the dark side isn’t either. To that end: if there’s something you’re working on that you want to talk about, I’m happy to focus on your work for the Podcast or even just chat about it. Reach out. I want to see you have a joyful and successful 2022.
Happy New Year, everyone. May we all be curious, not judgmental. Do no harm, but take no shit. Keep the faith. Do good work. May your year be joyful, your cup be full, and your body and mind be healthy. Onward. Forward.
Cannonball 