• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Ben Barden

Products - Projects - Process

  • Ben Barden
  • Home
  • Music
  • Weekly blogging in 2021
  • About
You are here: Home / About Ben Barden

About Ben Barden

Hi, I’m Ben Barden. I do (or have done) lots of different things – product management, blogging, coding, testing, writing music, managing teams, building communities. I get bored if I only do one thing. You might call me a “jack of all trades”; in practice it means I have a broad skill set.

What can you find on my blog?

I write about tech, blogging, social media and music. I write about projects past and present, what I’ve done, and what I’ve learned.

While being interested in lots of different things can make my blog feel a bit “scattergun”, there are running themes:

  • Getting things done: delivery over perfection
  • Software quality: doing things well
  • Organisation: keeping track of multiple priorities at a time
  • Continuous improvement: making things better, and doing so incrementally (small, frequent changes rather than big bang)

Work-related posts

Below is a selection of posts relating to things I’ve done at work, such as notable projects I’ve worked on.

  • On becoming a Scrum Master – October 2017
  • SEO and technical issues we encountered in Drupal 7 – September 2016
  • Redesigning City AM – March 2016
  • Rebuilding the post editor at City AM – October 2015
  • City AM: Homepage/Category redesign – March 2015

eBooks

Occasionally I compile eBooks of blog posts on a specific topic. These give the subject a bit more breathing space than a single post provides. These eBooks are free to download as a PDF.

  • A Beginner’s Guide to Google Analytics (PDF)

Get in touch

Due to spam, I no longer publish an email address on my blog. You can get in touch via social media:

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

benbarden

This was good! Nothing clever but 😁👍 This was good! Nothing clever but 😁👍
Watching Sophie Ellis Bextor on Graham Norton with Watching Sophie Ellis Bextor on Graham Norton with a band wearing animal masks/heads. A very 2020 way to round out a very surreal year. Great music, too! #HappyNewYear2021
Lunch was good today! Lunch was good today!
Guildford Castle, 25th Dec 2020. Merry Christmas. Guildford Castle, 25th Dec 2020. Merry Christmas. 

#loveguildford #guildford #guildfordcastle #christmas
Winter sun. Winter sun.
Sunday walk. Sunday walk.
Sunday afternoon walk. Sunday afternoon walk.
This year's #topnine ... This year's #topnine ...
#glutenfree beers 😁🕺 Oh hey, my latest musi #glutenfree beers 😁🕺

Oh hey, my latest music is now up on Spotify! Link in my profile!
New music coming soon to #spotify and most other o New music coming soon to #spotify and most other online stores. Release date tbc.

This is my 3rd release, containing 2 tracks: November Dawn, and Legacy Layers.

The tracks originally featured as part of my self-produced albums, Symmetry 1 and 2. Each track on Symmetry 1 has a companion track on Symmetry 2. These two are cut from the same cloth and are a kind of "trance guitar" style.

Newly-mastered for 2020, I think the music sounds nice and fresh. Maybe you'll like them!

Slowly building up my discography... you can find me under the name "GFD".
4pm. Must be November. 4pm. Must be November.
The #glutenfree way to have beer and Pringles. 🕺
Just arrive: Thirty years of #thedivinecomedy boxs Just arrive: Thirty years of #thedivinecomedy boxset 😁 this should be good. I've been a fan since 1996, and know the albums well. But I've missed loads of B-sides - and I know there are plenty. This set is a huge collection of music and will take some time to get through fully!!
Coffee time! Coffee time!
Anyone fancy a #glutenfree mince pie? And iced, no Anyone fancy a #glutenfree mince pie? And iced, no less! They're great!
My next music release is coming soon! My next music release is coming soon!
A 25 year epic journey: Way, way back in Septemb A 25 year epic journey:
 
Way, way back in September 1995… I wrote my first proper song, called “Waiting for the Sun”. It’s a bit basic.

Fast-forward to 2005. I had a pile of about 100 unfinished tracks. Tired of never finishing anything, I wanted enough tracks for an album. Over the next few years, I put together five albums, before taking a break in 2009.

In 2016, I decided to start music again under a new artist name – “GFD”. I did three more albums, a remix album, before writing two more albums under my own name. Eleven in total. (Album 10 was called “Ten”, in case anyone lost count.)

So, what now? Well, I’ve had a go at mastering one of my tracks, added some basic artwork, and uploaded it to stores.
The track has been approved, and will hit streaming services in a couple of weeks. It only took 25 years!

A truly epic journey… and the track is quite aptly titled Epic Journey.

Epic Journey by GFD hits Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Google Play, Tidal, Shazam, and Deezer on September 18th, 2020.

#music #spotify #epicjourney #gfd #instrumentalmusic
New glasses! New glasses!
When Mini Metro gets a bit chaotic. #nintendoswitc When Mini Metro gets a bit chaotic. #nintendoswitch
Gastly, Gastly, everywhere! #pokemongo Gastly, Gastly, everywhere! #pokemongo
Load More… Follow on Instagram

Recent Posts

  • Why personal projects are worth pursuing
  • How recurring calendar reminders help me to get things done
  • Looking back at 2020
  • A 25-year Epic Journey
  • A poor comms strategy – and a plea to do better

Archives

Categories

Handcrafted with on the Genesis Framework