2025 Retro

No, not the good retro: the “agile” one. I felt that I didn’t have enough material for a comprehensive “year wrapped” post, but I did want to be a little reflective on what was . So it seemed fitting to use an approach favoured by software teams, where the points are brief, and the action items are never followed up.

Keep Doing

• Public goal keeping: Documenting my goals, and when I achieve them, on this blog was a massive success. It wasn’t easy, but I did manage to get out more, and I have a new standing event that I didn’t at the start of the year. An I attribute that to being public about what I want to achieve. It turns out that being public about your goals tends to keeps them in mind more often. You’re more likely to follow up on them as a result. So definitely more of this in 2026.
• Getting out more: I would like to continue this in 2026, or at least keep it up. Going to boardgames every second Wednesday is a good start, but I think more of this would be good for me.

Do More

• More reading: Seriously, way more reading this year. I didn’t finish anything new last year, and the only books I did pick-up were ones I read already. I may need to be a little stricter about when I ought to have finished something.
• More building in public: In sort, making more of my work available to others. I tend to be afraid of being on the hook for supporting such work, but the support load of the projects that I did release last year (a couple of Micro.blog plugins) wasn’t so bad, and I think I’d like it more if I know others are enjoying my work. Doesn’t have to be everything, but just something to keep in mind.
• Travel: This is probably more of a wish rather than a goal, but it would be nice to get out into the world. I barely did any of that last year.

Do Less

• Unhealthy vices: More healthy eating, less YouTube, basically. This is probably more of a wish rather than an actual goal, but it is something that’s been on my mind, and I do need to improve here. I probably should track some metrics here.
• Going with the flow in my career: The career rut continues and I am wondering whether I should move on. But I’m really not sure what I’d like to do. I still enjoy working with the technology (or, more generally, on the product development side) so the idea of going into a more managerial position doesn’t appeal to me. But moving up the corporate ladder is difficult for one that doesn’t want to take on such a role. So would a sideways shift work? Contracting? A new job? All these questions I really need to get a handle on, and not let these career moves just “happen.” That won’t lead to a career I want to lead.

Achievements

• 1,073 blog posts.
  • 1 blog post that somewhat went viral, and is still getting hits from Hacker News.
• 3 project releases:
  • Two Micro.blog plugins, plus a silly quiz about ISO standards.
• 18 domain names, that’s 5 less than this time last year.
• 40th rotation around the sun.

There are a few other things I’d like to do this year that I’ll keep private, but I think this is a good start.