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2010 Resolutions: Q1 Retrospective

If you created New Year’s resolutions, in hungover remorse for your 2009 debauchery, it’s a good time to assess your rehabilitation. By examining last quarter’s progress, you can make early course corrections and get on track for a successful 2010.

Take a tip from the productivity experts and host your own personal retrospective. Here’s how:

  1. Pull out your resolutions and review. (Or at least try to remember what they were.)
  2. Try to reconstruct the hopes and frustrations you felt three months ago.
  3. Write this down: Revel in what went well in your quest for improvement.
  4. Regret what went badly.
  5. Reengage by picking one or two things you will do differently in Q2.
Categories
Personal

Personal 2009 Retro/2010 Planning

My yearly retrospective mind map summarizes what went well and badly in 2009, and what I plan to do in 2010. Click the image to see the full view.

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Dan Greening 2009 Retrospective Mind Map

I plan to iterate in 2010, with monthly or shorter sprints, progressing each month to make usable progress on as many 2010 goals as possible.

One thing that deserves explanation: “software project assessor”. This is not a commonly used term. An example is Elliot Fishman, who analyzes startup companies to determine their intrinsic bottom-up value. Venture capitalists pay him for his analysis. Being a sophisticated software project assessor means you can look at a software project or startup company and determine its likely value in the future. There are obvious implications to this.

I hope those who know me will ask me how it’s going; it will help motivate me.

Have a great 2010!