I'm No Longer a Manager (And that's a good thing)

After 2.5 years as a team lead (manager), I have shifted back to an individual contributor (IC) role. I'd like to talk about that path and transition. 

My Yearly Reflection and Planning

I don't do New Year's Resolutions. I've never liked them, going all the way back to when I was a kid in school. It took me a while to figure out why I don't like them: I don't like them because they aren't useful. The prototypical new year's resolution is setting yourself up for failure. "Don't do X". "Lose weight". "Stop snacking". "Write a book". Especially a goal of the form of "Don't do X" is almost impossible to achieve -- do X once and you've failed.

While I don't do resolutions, I dedicate serious time to reflection and goal setting every year. Goal setting, when done well, sets you up for success. For the last 14 years I've set aside some time around New Year's Day to review the past year, reflect, and set goals for the coming year. Those reflections have literally changed my life and shaped who I am today. I'd like to share my current yearly review and goal setting process in case it might be useful to someone else.