How do you keep on top of and get ahead of changes?
Ultimately, how up-to-date you are with the latest changes that are going on is your responsibility. You should be clear not only what technologies you're interested in today, but also what technologies you want to work with in the future. Ideally, these interests will mesh nicely with the goals of your company, but if they don't, use your own free time to investigate them. I've found that most of the knowledge I've learned from investigating technologies on my own time I ended up using in my day job.

Some suggestions for ways to keep on top of the changes in not only Lotus/IBM development, but also Web development in general, are as follows:

Set up your own test computer at home
I've found setting up my own test computer at home has been an enormous help for me. I went down to my local Fry's, famous for their customer service, and picked up a floor model Hewlett-Packard Pavilion 521n at a very good price. I also picked up a copy of SUSE Linux 8.0 and PartitionMagic 7.0 while I was there and came home and went to work. Within just a few hours I had installed SUSE Linux and had a dual-boot system. I can now test software on Linux or on Windows XP and have found this to be extremely helpful.

Get an IBM developerWorks Toolbox subscription
Getting an IBM developerWorks Toolbox subscription will give you access to the wealth of IBM products to download and install for testing and development purposes. You can go to http://ibm.com/developerworks/toolbox/ to sign up. I'll be writing more about this in the future.

Set up your own Domino site
You can create your own low-cost Domino Web site for as low as $10 to $15 per month. Check out Prominic.NET, where their Shared Server Trial package is only $15 per month. This is currently the provider I use to host my own Web site, http://DanVelasco.com. Another solution is the Domino Developer Network, where you can get a basic hosting package on a Domino 6 server for only $10 per month, which also includes Tomcat hosting for servlets. Also, look into spending the $35 per year it costs to register your own unique URL, such as your name. I know for me it has made it much easier to tell people how to find me.

Try to answer some of the unanswered questions in the LDD forums
Try to answer some of the unanswered questions in the LDD forums. Not only will this endear you to the person you help, but it will also force you to grow your own skills and can help establish you as an authority on a subject.

Try writing for a magazine or journal
Writing for a magazine or a journal can be extremely rewarding. It forces you to become extremely knowledgeable about what you're writing about, and it can establish you as an expert on a subject. It won't make you rich, but it can make you semi-famous in the Lotus/IBM world. In the words of Tom Peters, it is very "resume-able." If you'd be interested in writing for DominoPower, as one obvious example, you can contact Steve Niles at steve_niles@dominopower.com.