Think clearly about anything

Hey 👋 - Ilya here.

What's up and welcome to the Weekly One on One!

Here's one quick tip on how to Level Up as a developer.

Today's issue takes about 2 minutes to read.

Enjoy.

In order to provide meaningful insights, it's critical to have a process for thinking.

I've spent the last few years consistently writing down my thoughts about meetings, calls, and different situations. At the same time, I've tried to also come up with thoughts and opinions on the fly and struggle.

One of the main reasons is that I am not good at thinking on the fly. Things often come to mind after I need them —what a wasted opportunity.

There is no objectively "right" way to do it, but I want to share how I think about it.

Here's my 3-step process below to ensure you are always prepared and have thoughts and an opinion about topics you care about.

Let's dive in.

The process is as follows:

1. Review immediately
2. Combine
3. Prepare

1.  Review immediately

Once something is complete, we're likely to treat it as closed and forget the details. When the experience is still fresh in your mind, your review is most productive.

I consistently ask myself only two questions, which I originally learned from Roger Fisher and Alan Sharp in "Getting It Done."

1. WW: "What Worked?"

If something works, repeat it. If you don't pay attention to what works, you can't repeat it, at least not on a consistent basis.

2. DD:  "Do Different?"

We like to criticize, be it ourselves or others. So it should be a no-brainer for you, too. What can be done differently next time?

How and where to use it

• Meeting notes: make 2 columns for WW & DD and write down when something comes to mind
• After code review
• After one on one meetings with people
• Daily review
• Weekly review
• Just any time you suddenly see something good (WW) or bad (DD) happening.

2. Combine

I like to review the WW&DD lists on a weekly basis. This helps me see some patterns and structure and combine the ideas into different clusters and topics.

Some examples might be:

• How to handle meetings
• Teamwork
• Feature release
• Production incidents

3. Prepare

Now you can use the insights you gathered on specific topics to prepare.  

Heading into a code review ==> review WW & DD for code reviews.

Going into retro ==> review WW & DD from the last sprint.

Someone asked you for feedback ==> review WW & DD from previous encounters with that person.

Do it now

What was the last idea you had on how to improve something or on something that worked well?

Write it down, now.

Anywhere.

Repeat

P.S. You can copy this spreadsheet and use it as a log of your thoughts.

That's all for this One on One. 1 tip at a time to Level Up as a developer.

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See you again next week.

Cheers,

Ilya