Quarterly review: Q1 2009

Posted on April 15th, 2009 by Sacha Chua

In The Periodic Review, Part IV, Stephen P. Smith gives a handy quarterly review checklist that includes:

Review 3-5 year goals

Review career goals

Review purpose

Review lifestyle

which I will rearrange a bit, because this makes more sense to me:

Review purpose
Review career goals
Review 3-5 year goals
Review lifestyle

Purpose

I’m passionate about:

helping people connect and collaborate
experimenting and learning more about life

which is really one passion: helping others and myself be the best we can be through tools, processes, and connections.

Some key ideas that support that passion:

Think, do, reflect, learn, share
Create as much value as I can
Find ways to scale

No significant change in principles from last quarter. I’m getting better at experimenting and scaling, though! =)

Career

There are lots of different paths I can take so that I can eventually fully express those principles. =) No matter which path I choose, I hope to grow into a position where I can create opportunities, help lots of people grow, and continue to have the time and space to experiment with interesting tools and processes. This is basically my current situation, but on a bigger scale.

From conversations, it doesn’t seem as if I’d like the high-powered corporate executive path, although I’m open to being surprised. ;) I can probably do well as a professional, and I would probably also do well as an entrepreneur. I’d like to keep my technical skills (building tools is a lot of fun!), and I want to learn how to build processes that help others be more productive.

Personal projects that can help me advance my career goals are:

Help more people learn about Drupal and other tools we use to build systems. I’ll have accomplished this when I can build a body of knowledge that helps other developers get so good that working with them is a real pleasure. =) Next action: Write about my development and deployment processes.
Improve my remote presentation skills and help others improve theirs. I’ll have accomplished this when I can consistently prepare and deliver engaging, interactive remote presentations and engaging recorded presentations. Next action: Give a presentation that falls within the 140-160wpm range.
Keep experimenting with coordination and delegation through personal projects. I’ll have accomplished this when I can create complex personal projects with help.

3-5 year goals

Among my 3- to 5-year goals are:

Exercise every day for at least the recommended time. This is a good thing. Next action: Bike!
Get my permanent residency in Canada. Next actions: Print out two copies of that last form, double-check my application, print out my education history, and send my application package in.
Establish a good crazy idea opportunity fund. Next action: Continue to save. (I’m ahead of schedule, yay!)
Every day, wear at least one thing I’ve made. Just for fun. =) Next action: thread-trace the seamlines and markings for the two blouses I’m making.
Give 100 talks. Why not? =) Next action: Prepare for the next one, and brainstorm some other things I’d like to talk about.
Connect 1000 dots. Make at least 1000 introductions or referrals between people, ideas, tools, processes, and other ways to help make things happen.

Lifestyle

My lifestyle is fairly frugal, although there are some things I spend on that other people might not, because I think it’s worth it. For example, my experiments with delegation have been very interesting! =) My roles and responsibilities are in line with what I want and with the lifestyle I have, although I’m looking forward to finding ways to be more present and more thoughtful, because that’s fun too. Key positive changes I’d like to make to my lifestyle this quarter: use my bike more often, take advantage of the warmer spring/summer weather to play catch, and gradually make more and more clothes for my wardrobe. Ooh, and make time for more dot-connecting!

UPDATE: You might also find these links interesting:

Monthly review: March 2009
Monthly review: February 2009
Monthly review: January 2009

More posts about: quarterly // 4 Comments »

Short URL: http://sachachua.com/blog/p/6108

http://stephenpsmith.com/blog @Stephen

Wow! You have really put this to an excellent use. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Pingback: …words » The Periodic Review, Part IV
http://sachachua.com Sacha Chua

A blog is a wonderful thing. =) Thanks for the link! I’d love to see your reviews, too. I find that sharing my weekly, monthly, and quarterly reviews is a great way to share what I’ve learned with other people, plan ahead, and even get unexpected help.
http://itellstories.org Sameer Vasta

Conducted a quarterly review recently myself. Not quite the same as yours, but the spirit is there.

Glad you shared yours. I think it’s incredibly important to step back and self-evaluate from time to time.

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