Personal Retrospectives - Johannes Thönes

# J A X L o n d o n 2 0 1 4

PERSONAL RETROSPECTIVES

Johannes Thönes - Developer & Devil’s Advocate jthoenes@thoughtworks.com - @jthoenes

WHAT IS A PERSONAL RETROSPECTIVE?

LEARNING

REFLECTION

EXERCISES

WHAT HAPPENED LAST MONTH

Make a list of everything important to you last month. You can look at your calendar, the pictures on your phone or anything else.

!

You have 5 minutes.

GATHER DATA

TIMELINE

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.

Richard P. Feynman

FEEDBACK

FEEDBACKMIND MAP

ANY DATA

WHAT YOU LIKED AND WHAT YOU HATED

Make two lists - one left, one right.

!On the left side write the positive: things you liked, love or admire

!On the right side write the negative: things that made you feel bad

You have 3 minutes

RIGHT QUESTION

FIVE WHYS

FUTURESPECTIVE

GOALS & ACTIONS

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Think of things you can do, to have more of the things on the left (positive) and less of the things on the right (negative). Find as many things you could do as possible. !

You have 3 minutes

CHOOSE

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Relevant

Time-boxed

I want to learn Haskell.

In three month, I want to be able to write a Twitter clone using idiomatic Haskell. For this I will use Thursday evenings and Sunday mornings.

Specific

Measurable

AchievableRelevant

Time-boxed

48 HOURS

CHOSE A SMART GOAL

From your list pick the most important thing to do. Restructure it to a SMART goal:

• Specific: Are you clear which steps you want to take? • Measurable: How do you measure, when you have achieved it? • Achievable: Do you have enough resources and time to do it? • Relevant: Will it help you improve the thing you want to? • Time-boxed: When do you want to be done?

Make sure, you can start with the goal within the next 48 hours. Also, add the steps to your ToDo list, if you use one.

!

!

You have 5 minutes

RITUAL

MUSIC

LETTER TO MYSELF

WRITE A LETTER TO YOURSELF

Write a letter to yourself summarising your insights and your wishes for the next three month based on what you learned here. !

Ask the person next to you, to send you the letter in three month. !

You have 3 minutes

ADAPT YOUR TOOLS

HEARTBEAT

DIARY

PLAN

Personal Retrospectives are a useful tool for personal growth, to learn from our mistakes and plan for the future.

What is your way?

PERSONAL RETROSPECTIVES

Johannes Thönes jthoenes@thoughtworks.com

@jthoenes !

JAX LONDON 2014