Last sprint retro

Positives

1. I continued to be productive with writing.
2. I continued to evolve an agile practice.

Negatives

1. I continued to neglect categories of work like house projects.
2. I missed a day at the gym, and I didn’t do any meditation.
3. I allowed scope creep on work I enjoy at the expense of work I didn’t want to do.
4. I doomscrolled too much.
5. I didn’t do enough reading.

Ways to improve this week

1. Writing should be approached as a reward after other categories of work are done.
2. Fitness and wellness tickets will be added back to the sprint board for accountability. Story points won’t be tracked since these will mostly occur outside of working hours.
3. Other areas of work must be done first before I allow scope creep on work I enjoy.
4. Be more aware of social media and more disciplined with the FocusGuard Chrome extension. Complete 4 30-minute work sessions per day with this on.
5. Schedule reading as a task during the day.

Data

• Story points completed: 23
• Story points not completed: 14
• Percentage of sprint completed: 62%

End of Sprint 2 Week 45

Sprint goals

• Initial story points: 39.5
• Make progress on kitchen improvements.
• Complete the “Next Steps” work for cooking app outlined here.
• Read the assigned Big Magic section, formulate notes, and attend meeting.
• Balance writing with other work while still publishing content.
• Go to the gym everyday and get into a regular meditation practice. Do physical activity before bed.

Beginning of Sprint 3 Week 46

Standups

November 11

• Yesterday: Wrote an article about my money-tracking process
• Today: Change valve on oven. Start the Big Magic work for Friday. Complete other reading task. Continue with Seth Godin marketing course. Write if time. Meet goal of 4 30-minute work sessions per day with website blocker on.
• Challenges: N/A

November 12

• Yesterday: Did several sections of Seth Godin marketing course. Changed the valve on the oven. Read the assigned section of Big Magic. Got my other reading time in. Did a 30-minute meditation & went to yoga.
• Today: Went to the gym. Will sand and continue to patch the ceiling. Will continue with Seth Godin marketing course. Will finish the assigned questions for Big Magic. Will start the scoping for the app idea around The Practice next steps. Will read. Will get the 4 focus sessions in.
• Challenges: I fell asleep before I could do the evening fitness task. I didn’t have time to write which I didn’t like at all. I’m going to the movies tonight so I’ll have to cook and walk the dog early and get home late which will eat into my time.

November 13

• Yesterday: Finished the Seth Godin marketing Udemy course. Went to the gym and did a 30-minute meditation. Did Big Magic assignment. Did reading time. Sanded and patched ceiling. Got 4 focus sessions in. Did the evening fitness task. Got pagination working.
• Today: Went to the gym and got a sauna session in. Will start the scoping for the app idea around The Practice next steps. Will do another round of sanding the ceiling. Might add texture if the sanding and patching look finished. Will rake leaves. Hopefully I will have time to write!
• Challenges: Didn’t have time for writing again.

November 14

• Yesterday: Went to the gym and did 30-minute meditation. Finished the tasks for the cooking app specs per the phase 2 The Practice next steps. Scraped the ceiling a final time and cleaned it. Reading session. Raked leaves. Built a footer on this site.
• Today: Continue with the cooking app specs per the phase 3 The Practice next steps. Prime the ceiling. Learn how to clone Jira epics with child issues to make setting up sprints easier. Hopefully write!
• Challenges: I cut out caffeine in the afternoon so really sleepy and not too productive. Realized I need to add primer to the ceiling before the texture so I need to let the ceiling and my painting tools dry since they were dusty. Did not get 4 focus sessions in but did work away from the keyboard instead. Did not write for 3 days straight. Did not do evening fitness session since I fell asleep before it.

November 15

• Yesterday: Spent most of the day working on Jira automations. Got a reading session and meditation in. Missed the gym.
• Today: Big Magic meeting. Will try to prime the ceiling. Write about what I learned about Jira automations. Start wrapping up sprint and planning next week.
• Challenges: I spent way too long on Jira but it was an intentional decision. No one is going to yell at me for spending all day learning this instead of doing other things. Did not write for 4 days straight.