4 Qs - A Personal Retrospective

Quintessential Thought

We hold retrospectives with teams all the time, encouraging them to inspect and adapt their ways of working together. And there are regular times of product inspection; in Scrum, we have Sprint Reviews with stakeholders.

As this new year dawns, consider applying this same practice to you, personally. Take a moment to hold a personal retrospective. Set aside some uninterrupted time - say, 30 minutes - and consider a few important aspects:

• What is going well?

• What could be better?

• Where are you over-investing?

• Where are you under-investing? 

• What are you ignoring?

You can use the Wheel of Life concept, originated by Paul J. Meyer in the 1960s, to consider a wide view of your life across several categories.

Then, consider actions that you intend to take:

• Protect things that are important and going well

• Grow things that are important and need more investment

• Let go of things that are less important or harmful

• Be grateful for things that are beneficial and healthy

As with teams, we recommend that you only pick a few actions to focus on, and then make those small enough that you can do them in a short period of time (like a week).

What better way to start the year?

Quotes

"The unexamined life is not worth living" – Socrates

“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.” – Peter Drucker

“Self-reflection is a much kinder teacher than regret is. Prioritize yourself by making a habit of it.” – Andrena Sawyer

Quick Step

If you can’t do it right now, put a 30 minute personal retrospective on your calendar in the next few days.

Question

Who would it be helpful to get feedback from as you enter your personal retrospective?

Professional Product Discovery and Validation, Jan 24

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