I will be participating in the Rails Rumble 09 this year with design Josh Hemsley and Rails/Javascript developer Steve Pothoven. We have begun or planning and I’m really excited about the project and the team I’m working with.

I did not attend FOWA in Miami last week, but after just 20 minutes of following the twitter stream of #FOWA, I wished I had. The twitter stream was very informative and provided some great quotes and tips from the superb lineup of speakers they had. The organizer of FOWA should make it a point at future conferences to market the twitter feed, because following it led me to realize I absolutely must attend the next one.

I compiled a list of my favorite twitterered quotes and tips from the FOWA feed. Note: Each tip indicates the speaker first, then the tip, and then who provided it via twitter:

• @garyvee: the sucky people are going to lose jobs and people with real skills are going to flourish = “market correction” (via @whitneyhess)
• @spolsky: Breaking bread together every day is critical for team dynamic. Daily team meal keeps them all motivated, connected (via @whitneyhess)
• ?: “If you want 2 create the next phenomenal app stop treating your programming like an assembly line + more like a movie studio.” (via @snoebiz)
• @spolsky: You have to create conversations about your app… advertising isn’t going to work anymore. (via @dimensionmedia)
• @halvorson: Your content is a strategic asset for your brand. Treat it as such. (via @alexdc)
• @spolsky: How to scale your dev team: Lower barriers. Recognize that Jedis are rare, & you need to keep them focused on their core competancies (via @whitneyhess)
• ?: You need uninterrupted time to get work done. Too many people are doing work “moments” throughout their day. (via @orian)
• @jasonfried: if you want to be productive stay the hell away from each other (via @vincefrantz)
• @jasonfried: HTML email gets better results than text emails (via @genuine)
• @jasonfried: Percentage coupons seem to drive more sales than dollar off coupons. (via @jseifer)
• @jasonfried: People are going to trust free services/products less. People will look at companies that are stable. (via @refreshdetroit)
• @jasonfried: I don’t pay attention to the competitors, I don’t care about the competition. I focus on building a great product (via @frederickduboi)
• @jasonfried: Don’t focus on the competition. We’re in a world where 100 companies doing the same thing can be very successful (via @whitneyhess)
• @jasonfried: is there a culture of failure for startups in tech? Jason Fried is saying that fail early and fail often is the current mantra (via @carybran)
• @jasonfried: Fail early and fail often” is not a good credo. Don’t learn from mistakes, better to learn from your successes (via @Murrayiz)
• @jasonfried: “Somehow failure became cool.” Wouldn’t tell a farmer to fail early & fail often. Why do we think it’s ok in software? (via @whitneyhess)

AgileNomads is in attendance at the Acts as Conference 2009 in Orlando. It’s cold, but we are ready to learn and talk Rails for the next two days. If you weren’t able to make it, watch www.RubyRailsReview.com for notes and links to articles from the speakers throughout the two days.

Counting the hours until Acts as Conference 2009. It’s going to be a lot of fun, but a lot of work as well. Will return with a brain bursting at the seams, and in desperate need of an all day nap on Sunday.

Agile Nomads will be covering the conference on Ruby Rails Review; publishing all related links and news throughout the day as they come to us. We will also be giving away a nice prize, and providing links to local and hotel information, as well as maps and conference room floor plans.

More information coming soon on the giveaway and how to enter.

I’m not one to set “resolutions” for the new year. I set my personal goals on my birthday, because for me this has more meaning than a calendar change. So instead, on this New Year’s Eve, I thought I’d offer up a toast to those out there striving to reach their own goals, whatever they may be.

Over the past year I have met in person or online, so many more like-minded people than in all my years previous. It’s encouraging, it really is. I attribute the increase in connecting with this new crowd to three things: 1) I set it as a personal goal on my birthday last year, 2) I became involved in the right online social networks (not all will do), and 3) I joined the Ruby on Rails community full time.

Many of you have provided encouragement, motivation, and wisdom as well as shared your experiences. And for that, I am very grateful. I’ve never felt clearer in the direction I’m taking, and I’ve never made as much progress. The fears are still there, as is the little voice that tries to object to the optimism I feel, but thanks to many of you, I’m able to tell that little voice to take a hike.

And so, first to my fellow entrepreneurs and web service startups, I toast you, and wish you the happiest of New Year’s and the best of success in reaching your personal and professional goals (which to me are one and the same).

And next, to those of you who are still unsure where your passions lie, and what direction you want to take, I wish you clarity and peace in the year ahead, and encourage you to seek out those who can motivate you as they have motivated me.

And to any and all who have hopes and dreams of achievements and success, I urge you to persevere through all the obstacles and road blocks that may come your way. Most of them are never as big as they appear, and there are plenty of others out there who have been right where you are and can lend a helping hand and offer some motivational words when needed.

Remember, if its not challenging, and there is little risk of failure, then its probably not worth doing and offers little reward.

Happy New Years!