Since posting my introduction on May 14th, I thought I would write my second monthly update. As much as anything, it represents my "log" of sorts, giving my readers a monthly view, through my eyes, of my "journey" into this new "virtual world" based on the creation of the Steem blockchain.

So ... "What are you doing 'in there' @roleerob and how is it going?"

Status or "Executive Summary"

To begin, here is a brief overview to answer the "how is it going" question we should probably be "checking in" with ourselves and answering, from time to time.

Statistics

There is an old saying, "numbers don't lie." Yes, well, there is also an old joke about the executive asking the accountant, "what do the numbers say about how we're doing?" to which the accountant replied, "what do you want them to say?" ... 😊

Required to issue a monthly report for most of my career, with numbers to quantify progress, here are a few:

So ... At this point in my "journey," these appear to me to be the big three. Without dwelling on the details, summed up altogether they seem to best quantify our influence on adding value to the Steem blockchain. Given all of our rich diversity and understanding our Community is "different things to different people," I trust we all have one focused objective in common. We want the value to go up!

That said and these simple statistics aside, the primary number in focus right now for me is my time. Very challenging topic for me, with a lot behind the word "challenging," but on into my post for the "heart" of my update - "growth" ...

"Growing"

What @roleerob? Got an expanding waist line problem? Need to get up from that keyboard more and "use it or lose it?" 😉

I will not attempt to recreate the content of my Adding Value and Curation and Pollination posts here, but they both wrestle with an essential question to me and that is ”what is of value?” Read together, they provide my readers with my start of coming up with an answer.

"Face time" is more than some "app on a device" to me. Am I going to yield to some delusion that relationships in this "virtual world" match those in the "real world?" No. I will not "go there" ...

Nonetheless, it is undeniable there is something of value "in here” and as a life-long "continual learner," I am committed to a better understanding of what exactly it is. Beyond the obvious, which is we "meet" others "in here" whom we never would otherwise. Such is the "magic and the mystery" of this product of creative genius (another post, another day) ...

With that, time will tell how this formatting evolves in future updates, but I would like to have different highlighted sections, along the lines of my Update, Month 1 ... post. My readers can then focus in on what they may find of value, if they don't have the time and / or interest to read through it all.

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Monthly Highlights

”Ranking” what stands out to me in Month 2, we have …

👍 👍 Two Thumbs Up 👍 👍

Working with ”systems,” as well as managing the work of others, for much of my career, I have always emphasized ”people” over ”process” believing that is the right priority. From a lot of experience, I know the best systems are greatly diminished, if not ”manned” by competent, engaged people. A great team will always solve the problem of less-than-ideal systems. I have never experienced the reverse to be true ...

This section, then, will always be about the people I “meet” in our Community. Specifically, those who have had the greatest impact on my "journey." While I could get bound up with the notion, in not mentioning some, that I may put them off, I will simply say my intentions are good, but my time is very limited. So ... I will give a “shout out” to the top three:

Here we go, in alphabetical order ( <= don’t miss that! 😉):

• @abh12345: His Steem: Don't forget to look up post and all of the associated links, resulted in my committing to @Steemcommunity (where he works in partnership with @paulag) my vote, as one of our all-important Witnesses. Much to reflect on, in the ”1%” and related “middle class” content of it. And his efforts with the Curation and Engagement League are believed to be well-known.

• @headchange: Her A Question Of Growth post resulted in a bit of a “snowball rolling downhill” for me in gaining some depth and detail on the value proposition we are steadily working on in our Steem Community. She was also the “point person” in connecting me to the “PIFC team,” led by @thedarkhorse.

• @lynncoyle1: As stated in my reply to her Striking Balance : How to get to 500 SP ? post, she exemplifies all the hard work involved in creating Community, which has value beyond what can be financially measured.

Honorable mention: My experience with @skyleap, detailed in my business review post.

👍 One Thumb Up 👍

First covered in Month 1, revisiting the fascination I have being a part of the Steemian Community and the effect of this blockchain connecting people from all over the world. For example, here I had a brief exchange with a man from Morocco!

In that update, though, I said:

”I will always place the greatest value on the personal time I have with my family and friends. ‘Personal time’ is living life with them in ways that simply can't be ‘virtually’ replicated. Take, for a simple example, the all-important topic of good communication. So much of it is non-verbal, i.e. one's body language, facial expressions, etc. While video connections are helpful, they still can't match the ‘real thing.’"

I think I am going to be wrestling with this question for a long time. This month I was able to find some encouraging examples of real value in some online relationships, so that was helpful. My first (month) impressions were not all that favorable overall, but I didn't give up.

Inescapable, though, is the time they take away from our "real world" relationships. How could it be otherwise? Balance will certainly play a key factor, as it so often does. I like @thedarkhorse's honesty in saying ...

" ... I'm giving up a little TV time or messing around on the internet wasting time somewhere else ..."

as his way of working through the time commitment. Instead, he is investing it in our Steem Community. I like that. If we're honest, we all waste time here and there that could be better spent, so why not into our Steem Community?

👎 One Thumb Down 👎

Bots are still annoying to me and, on balance, I could easily do without them. Similar to what I say above about finding some encouraging examples of online relationships, though, at least this month I did find that there were some bots that seemed to be serving a useful purpose.

At the end of the day, I suppose they are just like any other creation of man. In and of themselves, they are neither good or bad. They are simply programmatic mechanisms designed to automate some function(s). Whether good or bad is up to whoever is behind the creation of it.

In my IIBA Conference post, I discussed the view of the “best and the brightest” from all over the world about the topic. Bots, AI, machine learning etc. is not only here, but implementations are accelerating all over everywhere …

In the future, I hope we’ll see “the good guys” are winning in creating counters (suppressors? destroyers?) to all “the bad guys” are creating. Sadly, these creations have entered the military sphere sometime ago, so a great deal is at stake.

👎 👎 Two Thumbs Down 👎 👎

Not going to spend a lot of time on a strong negative, but I want to touch on our reputations. Reinforcing what I just said, I have watched the “destruction” of another Steem account by a relentless bot posting “blacklist” comments and downvoting. Drove this account into negative numbers, on their reputation. At which point, for all practical purposes, they “disappear” …

The all-important question is based upon what? Certainly nothing obvious, I can assure my readers of that. I will always be an “innocent until proven guilty” advocate. Too much is at stake to get this wrong.

I hope to not see that again …

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Closing

Quite a month for @roleerob! I am certain this next month cannot match it, for the simple fact I am leaving shortly for a much-anticipated and much-needed vacation. Off the to Great Northwest, to visit family and friends, as well as seeing as much of our beautiful country, as we can manage, along the way.

All the best to you for a better tomorrow, as we all work together to build our Steem Community! 👍 😊

Respectfully, fellow Steemian @ roleerob

Posted using Busy.org and immutably “enshrined in the blockchain” on Sunday, 15 July 2018!

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