Personal Retrospectives for Self-Improvement, Microsoft Tech Days Sweden, 2016

Retrospect Yourself April Wensel Founder of Compassionate Coding @aprilwensel Using
Personal Retrospectives To Improve Productivity #TDswe

@aprilwensel

N G C O D I N G COMPASSIONATE @aprilwensel

@aprilwensel Emotional Intelligence

Self-Awareness: Know yourself @aprilwensel Self-Management: Grow yourself

@aprilwensel 1.  Motivation 2.  Preparation 3.  Implementation The Plan

”The human individual lives usually far within his limits; he
possesses powers of various sorts which he habitually fails to use. He energizes below his maximum and he behaves below his optimum.” –William James @aprilwensel

”We are so busy being busy that we don’t take
the time to reﬂect on and ask the questions that can reshape our lives.” –Larry & Hersch Wilson, Play to Win @aprilwensel

@aprilwensel

@aprilwensel 1.  Constantly putting out ﬁres 2.  Not growing skills
3.  Feeling stressed 4.  Staying in an unfulﬁlling job 5.  Not spending enough time on hobbies or with family http://www.government.se/contentassets/95678f8dfcea4ece916e5b7950f2260f/ a-work-environment-strategy-for-modern-working-life-20162020 50-60% work absences in the EU due to work stress

@aprilwensel

Can we do better? @aprilwensel

@aprilwensel “The best way to combat burnout and stress...is to
continuously seek improvement in some area of your life.” –Steve McClatchy, Decide

Agile Retrospective @aprilwensel

@aprilwensel agilemanifesto.org

”At regular intervals, the team reﬂects on how to become
more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.” @aprilwensel http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html

”At regular intervals, I reﬂect on how to become more
effective, then tune and adjust my behavior accordingly.” @aprilwensel

@aprilwensel

“If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are
you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.” –Jim Rohn @aprilwensel

@aprilwensel Professional + Personal

@aprilwensel

@aprilwensel •  individuals and interactions •  working software •  customer
collaboration •  responding to change Agile Values

@aprilwensel What do you value?

”[Y]our productivity is really about how well you are able
to make an impact on what matters most to you.” –Scott Belsky @aprilwensel

“Good plans–whether for individuals or organizations– begin from the inside
out: what are your values?” –Larry & Hersch Wilson, Play to Win @aprilwensel

"Connecting to a deep set of values…fuels a uniquely high-
octane source of energy for change. It also serves as a compass for navigating the storms that inevitably arise in our lives.” –Jim Loehr & Tony Schwartz @aprilwensel

@aprilwensel

@aprilwensel Who do you admire? What are his or her
admirable traits?

@aprilwensel What moments in your life are you most proud
of? What values did you display in those moments?

@aprilwensel What would you do if you had a year
left to live? A day?

@aprilwensel

@aprilwensel Schedule

@aprilwensel

@aprilwensel Mark your calendar!

@aprilwensel

@aprilwensel Implementation 1.  Gather data 2.  Group & prioritize issues
3.  Generate action items

@aprilwensel What went well? What could have gone better?

@aprilwensel

@aprilwensel Gratitude

@aprilwensel Resilience

@aprilwensel

@aprilwensel “Regardless of what we discover, we must understand and
truly believe that everyone did the best job he or she could, given what was known at the time, his or her skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand.” –The Prime Directive

@aprilwensel Self-Compassion https://medium.com/operation-code/how-to-beat-coding- frustration-with-self-compassion-28297333524a

@aprilwensel “Emotion-free mistake making” –Angela Duckworth, Grit

@aprilwensel Growth Mindset

@aprilwensel “A growth mindset will strengthen you when you face
obstacles and enhance your excitement when you…achieve your goals…” –Shawn Murphy, The Optimistic Workplace

@aprilwensel “More than anything else, what differentiates people who live
up to their potential from those who don’t is a willingness to look at themselves and others objectively.” –Ray Dalio

@aprilwensel ”Pain + Reﬂection = Progress” –Ray Dalio

@aprilwensel How many?

@aprilwensel

@aprilwensel Debug your life

@aprilwensel

@aprilwensel Speciﬁc

@aprilwensel “I’m going to get more sleep this week.” “I’m
going to be in bed reading a book by 22:00.”

@aprilwensel Achievable

@aprilwensel “I’m going to become a Python expert this week.”
“I’m going to complete the ﬁrst week’s lesson in Coursera’s Intro to Python course.”

@aprilwensel (Not)

@aprilwensel Repeat!

@aprilwensel Variations

@aprilwensel while(!dead) { Exist(); }

@aprilwensel while(!dead) { GatherData(); GroupAndPrioritizeIssues(); GenerateActionItems(); GetBetter(); }

@aprilwensel

@aprilwensel “It’s easy to sleepwalk through life, to operate at
the level of ‘good enough’….But if we want to truly excel in our careers, we must awaken to our own profound capacity for growth.” –99U’s Maximize Your Potential

@aprilwensel References

@aprilwensel [email protected]

Personal Retrospectives for Self-Improvement, Microsoft Tech Days Sweden, 2016

Personal Retrospectives for Self-Improvement, Microsoft Tech Days Sweden, 2016

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