Retrospect: contemplation of the past.
Welcome to 2022! I have big plans for this year, and I hope you do too. May it be a productive, successful and happy year for all of us.
You know that the first email of the year has to be about New Year's resolutions. It's expected. I dare not disappoint you. But I promise not to write about those (already broken?) resolutions to exercise more or eat less sugar.
A quick lesson in project management
In project management methodology, the project doesn't end when the system is delivered. There are still two things we need to do.
First, we measure to see if the project produced the expected benefits. Remember those reasons why it was such a good idea to spend time and money on the project? We need to check if that was true, and address it if it wasn't.
Second, we review the lessons that we learned from the project. We made mistakes. We made poor decisions. But some of our best learning comes from our mistakes. Or it can, if we spend the time to consider those lessons.
A quick look back
Our sales team had a 2022 kick-off meeting a few days ago. Goals and targets and plans are important. But I think the most valuable thing we did was to look back at 2021 and say: What can we learn from this?
Don't get me wrong. I don't want you to wail and gnash your teeth and tear your clothes over your mistakes. Forget the mistake. Learn from the lesson.
Just do it
This is it. This is our normal. I wrote those last 2 sentences in my email to you last January. But I think we've still spent too much of 2021 on pause, moaning the loss of our previous normal.
So take a tip from Nike: Just do it. Start learning that skill, make that booking, whatever it is.
Remember that every journey begins with (the plan and then) the first step.
Have an amazing 2022
I'm excited about my goals for 2022. I'm also a little stunned by the amount of work I will need to do. But I've got the plan, and I've taken the first step. And then I'll take the second step.
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