2023 retro

• A call with Ibra made me realise I didn’t spend as much time writing as I’d have liked.
  • This was based off 2 weeks of data though, so it may not be completely accurate.
• Recurring themes:
  • Socio-technical challenges
  • Complexity
  • Product
• Big topics I didn’t have time to explore, and felt a lot of guilt about:
  • DX
  • DDD
  • The idea with these was to dig out actionable insights around the topics.
• Bias towards actionability: This was a big mood for 2023
• Writers who operate by Will Larson sums up a bit of the magic I’ve got going on here. recommended read for sure.
• My note taking after watching videos, & listening to podcasts could improve. My current process is to do the first watch without taking notes, unless there’s info needed immediately. then the content will sit in my “watched/listened” list until I’m writing on the topic. that’s when a second listen and note taking happens
  • I feel like lots of solid material slips through the cracks this way though
  • Non-text content is hard to index & ‘bump’ into, which limits the serendipity surface area😅

Playbooks

• The idea of playbooks was pitched to me by Ibra. The intention is to take a topic/problem, and share actionable steps to address the pains.
• Taking the form of prompts, resources, heuristics, suggested steps, things I’ve seen work for others. Basically anything I think could be helpful
• It’s not necessarily things I know will work
• I like addressing topics I find to be recurring in retros across the teams I’ve worked in.
• Reminds me a lot of Brie & Julia Evan’s zines.
• Another good example is Domain Driven Refactorings. I’m yet to dive into this site, I found it here.

Tools

• Readwise reader’s highlights are a great place to use for sourcing. I just search for topics/keywords and get all the webpages & books I’ve highlighted around the topic.
• I use too many apps for note taking. Apple for handwritten and personal notes, Notion for stuff I may want to share with a semi-private audience, Bear for first drafts and notes I can share while screencasting at work.
  • Bear captures writing for this site, goosebumps, and work notes
• lol, recently added Linear to manage Goosebumps features & roadmap, this blog too

2024

• I don’t like planning my writing too much. Ultimately, I’m the first audience, meaning I’m naturally inclined to write about what I’m learning about, or interested in at the time.
• Address the big topics as atomic notes as JIT.
  • They can be packaged after the fact, either into playbooks, or series of posts
• I remain undecided on ideal cadence & ‘volume’
  • I feel like aiming for 30 minutes, 5 days a week is attainable
  • “Stop before you get exhausted” & “Do less than you think you can” is the strategy here.