Buying Devices and Development Account for Windows Phone 7

It took me a week and a lot of nerves to buy a few WP7 devices and a XNA dev account.
Anyway it is finished. I hope it helps guys find new motivation to continue.

Sandbox development for WP7 is progressing, but should move a bit quicker. I have to make it move forward as personal example.

Vision

Goal: Develop projects. Achieve new heights.
Now to:

• Develop small stuff. Easy to create a vision. Could be implemented within days, weeks. Do it first - rethink later. Follow: "make it work today, make it right tomorrow, make it fast if you love it".
• Complete the smallest working thing in one go.
• Share ideas. Create a team and make them add new "small" ideas.
• Attractive platform. There must be something fundamentally attractive making the development - fun. For me this is "Windows Phone 7", but it may be something else.
• Think ahead. There must be a dream of going big. An idea to level up the team to something greater. A way to evolve the projects if they hit.

So WP7 platform was what I needed. It is new and cool, it has known dev platform (Silverlight), mobile is fun for most. It is ideal for "small" stuff.

I got lucky to meet a few enthusiasts with considerable skill just at the moment I needed them, I got help from colleagues and got acquainted with a few more great guys.

It's been about a week, we have 4 projects in development already. All having progress. 3 of them are "playable" already.

Grand opening!

This is the first post in my new blog. (though "Russian" is my native language, I will be using English)

I have pestered the idea of "Sandbox" for a year and it just happened to start on its own. Like an initiative that doesn't involve a direct reward for the effort it has all the risks of dying too soon but my hopes are high this time.

About me.
Name: Ivan Kirkorau
Occupation: software developer (and all other roles), trainer, sorcerer...

I am spending most of my work time on training software developers in MS technologies and solving problems, all kinds. And its its toll on me, I am losing the skill of developer.

Here comes my savior. "Sandbox" - a group of enthusiasts initially inspired by me to form development team(s) and create working projects and have fun while learning and honing one's skill.

The idea has nothing new on the top, many of them died without ever completing anything. I was looking for the key ingredients that will help keep the focus and fun.
Now I hope I have found some for the starter. As it grows I will need more.

... next post about ingredients.