First post!

The notorious first post. Who ever actually reads the very first post on a blog anyway? Someone's got to I guess. You're reading it...so that means it's time to get to business. My god the pressure!

My goal for this blog is to focus on the idea of transparency in the uptime and performance of web sites and services . What does that mean? Let me tell you. My argument is that if you run an online application (e.g. a plain jane web site, a web services, an API, or anything else that sits online) and your users rely on it, you MUST be as open as possible about its downtime events, performance problems, and anything else that could affect the quality of service for your users. Gone are the days when you could hide behind the white glow of anonymity in the online space, and hope that no one notices your application is down for half the day (I'm looking at you Twitter). Not only is this a going to help your business, and make your users happy, but it's only a matter of time before your users demand it.

Some examples:

1. http://trust.salesforce.com/
2. http://status.aws.amazon.com/
3. http://status.twitter.com/

All three of these services (SalesForce.com, Amazon, and Twitter) have come to realize, after much prodding from their users, and numerous downtime events, that making this information public is a really good idea!

Originally I was inspired to this idea thanks to a great article in Wired magazine titled "The See-Through CEO". Definitely check it out.

My goals for this blog at this point are the following:

1. Document examples of really great transparency, or the lack thereof.
   
2. Develop a guideline of transparency that you can use in your own professional life.
   
3. Help you in you and maybe your business reap the benefits of being transparent, and get ahead of the curve on your competition.

I would guess that 95% of all blogs die within the first 3 months. My goal is to be posting a 1 year anniversary story, re-evaluating the state of the industry a year from now, and hopefully helping you become more successful along the way!