Software Journal

A very happy new year 2010!!! I hope this year is a very successful and satisfying one for you, whichever way you define success and satisfaction.

Here is a very candid list of my goals for the year 2010, in no particular order:

1. Become the expert in medical records and EMR software, especially the interoperability issues. This is the wave of the present and the future, and anyone in the IT industry can barely avoid this vertical. One of the elements of this topic also is the CPT codes understanding and how the claims get analyzed. I understand this topic from the risk and analytical perspective, but the vertical industry knowledge will be an asset as well.
2. Publish in technical journals and present at conferences, like I used to in the years 2002 – 2006. Over the years 2007 and 2008, my focus shifted to some extent away from that, and only in the end of the year 2008 did I reengage in the process. Year 2010 for me will be a year to accelerate the research and development, both at my day job, and also in my evening job.
3. Expand my leadership, communication and speaking skills through active learning and preparation. I have thoroughly enjoyed being a leader, and am most excited at the expanded set of opportunities present in front of me. There is no replacement for formal training, and the onus is on me to take advantage of the training possibilities.
4. Read better. While I have always maintained a steady reading pace about a book every 3 weeks (which is considered atrociously slow by most of the active reading community) and I do not intend to change that at all, I am planning to change the process by which I select books. Of all the books that I read in 2008 and 2009, I only remember 3, and that is obviously an avenue of improvement.
5. Expand my understanding of some other technology stacks, whether within the enterprise Java stack or beyond it.

That is it! Now I am interested in knowing what is on your list, and also if you have specific book suggestions, kindly leave me a note.

PS: I am looking for a good goal management software.  Does anyone have any suggestions?