PersonalRetreatProcess

page owner: SolomonThompson

Overview

First installment of The Patented (or not... Just Jokes) Retreat Process: There were two drivers in the development of and participation in this process. One was that many years ago I read that Bill Gates (one of my idols) participates in a multi-day annual getaway where he does reading, independent thinking and makes strategic decisions. A second driver/contributor was learning about and practicing Scrum, a project management framework for executing agile projects.

So here it is. I do a minimum of 3 days and a maximum of 4 away from home and work (distance doesn't matter for home, what matters for work is disconnecting from wiki, phone, email and txt).

Preparation:

1) Create Retrospective Template on a wiki. A Scrum Retrospective is a process where one looks at something over a given period of time and does the following (in a time box):

• List what went well
• List what didn't go well
• Perform root cause analysis on the items deemed important
• Decide on solutions to each root cause
• Decide on how and when they will be integrated into future actions

2) Make sure that chosen Retreat location has excellent wireless access, either for air card or WiFi? .

Day 1: Fast (only drink water).

• No looking in the mirror or shaving.
• No talking to anyone.
• No phone calls or text messages... total disconnect from humans.

The rationale for not looking in the mirror or shaving is about trying to remove ego from the consciousness and just empty out. Meditation is done on day one. Spiritual stuff. Trying to achieve a mind free of the clutter of tactical, day to day issues. Try to clear mind of ego, sense of self worries etc. The goal is for emptiness, peace of mind and achieving a state of physical discipline (fasting)

Day 2:

• With clear mind, fill out the What went well, what didn't go well sections of the template within a time box.
• Do something relaxing (maybe get a massage if facilities allow, go for a run, ...)
• In leisurely, not timeboxed, fashion, do root cause analysis and solutions (as much as can be done on Day 2)

Day 3/4 (Day 4 is optional and doesn't always happen)

• Complete Retrospective (meaning solutions are decided upon and implementation approach known)
• Release worries. Try to get rid of all the fears, anger, issues from previous period of living and start fresh. Almost like beginning life again with new information and approaches.

The way "I" do these retrospectives is to look at my life in 4 dimensions:

• Business
• Family
• Community
• Self

So, there are 4 templates that are filled out, 1 for each dimension. My consistent personal goal is to seek solutions that address all dimensions simultaneously... have had very limited success but, the journey has been useful.

I'm putting this stuff out here because I've had numerous questions about it (from people who know that I do this multiple times per year) so... there it is.

Discussion

Over time, I've learned that holding fast to what gets accomplished on a particular day is not very important.

SolomonThompson

04 Mar 2011 - 10:47