Why Bother Blogging?

Got your attention?
What? A Blog, questioning the benefits of Blogging?

Actually, I know the benefits, here are a bunch of links that describe the obvious benefits, particularly to startup software entrepreneurs:
What are the benefits of blogging for small business?
Business Benefits of Blogging
Uses/Benefits of Blogging for Knowledge Workers
Do Blogs Really Help Create Traffic
etc. etc.

What I have found though is that Blogging may just be a distracting sideline for the entrepreneur authoring the Blog.
Recently, I read "The 80/20 Individual" (here's a good summary) . The premise is that many of the world's most successful people are 80/20 Individuals. These are people that have a "20% spike", that is, 20% or less of these people contribute to 80% or more of their impact. The 20% Spike is the one thing that the person is outstandingly good at. If these people achieve intense focus on this strength and surround themselves with other people that can perform the other required 80% then they will reach the pinnacle of success in their field.
It is also critical that they apply their 20% Spike to an appropriate field. For example, an extreme case is Shaquille O'Neal who obviously has a 20% Spike (or 1% Spike) suited to slam-dunking a basketball over much smaller people. He is most successful concentrating on that while surrounding himself with others that can perform the remaining 80% of the tasks. And of course, he has wisely choosen to pursue a career in basketball.
It is of utmost importance, that we, as software entrepreneurs, identify our 20% Spike and apply it with laser-like focus to a product idea to which it is suited.

I say all this to point out that maintaining a Blog for any benefit may be extremely counter-productive for many software entrepreneurs (as well as individuals in any other field).

When I started this Blog back at the beginning of the year, my main purpose was to share my progress in developing RoadRaceResults.com (read Jan 11 Entry).
The reason I want to do this is to;
- be accountable and
- to solicit advice.
When compared to working in a corporate environment, a software developer, independently working on a product is accountable to very few people. In addition, advice and criticism is rare unless actively sought.
So, I considered daily chronicling my progress, decisions and questions for all to see.
It turns out that my particular 20% Spike may not include Blogging.

When I write, I typically strive for more quality and completeness than a well-written Blog demands. If I were to Blog daily, it would consume a good portion of my time.
It's possible that I can set guidelines and metrics to strive to Blog daily:
- for no less than 15 minutes (to honestly test whether it is worthwhile)
- and no more than 30 minutes to ensure that I don't cut into the work I need to be focusing on.

A quote from Bruce Lee that I have posted in my office, "The successful warrior, is the average man with laser-like focus". Somehow, I don't sense that this includes Blogging.

BUT, at the same time, I still feel that I can benefit greatly from some sort of accountability that I had while employment in the past.

In my own case, the verdict is still out on writing a Blog.
The case of reading Blogs still has benefits to me so that I can learn from others (I'm glad that Blogging is part of their 20% Spike).

Now, my default behaviour would be to go back and proof-read this post, condense it, add headings etc etc.
But in the interest of proper Blogging I will just click "Publish Post"....