End of the First Sprint: How Did It Go?

Well, looks like we survived our first Sprint mostly intact.  The question is, how did it go?  Let's take a look at how successful or unsuccessful things turned out in the first true Sprint.

My lovely wife is in China as of yesterday, so for my Sprint Retrospective our management team was a little thing (AKA, just me).  However I still roped in the kids, er, rest of the team and we sat down and went over what worked and what didn't.  Surprisingly, they both attended the mandatory meeting with only the minimal amounts of grousing and complaints.  The first things I had us do was go over the things that went well, and the things that didn't go so well.  These I called our Wins and Not So Wins.

The good news is, we had much more to add to the Wins column than the Not So Wins Column, including some of the Daughter Development tasks I wasn't so sure they were going to enjoy (such as learning not to simply drop their bags in the hallway every time they get home).  The Daughter Adventure days were also a big hit, having gone to the Library and to the beach respectively.  We also whipped or yard into shape, planted a garden, and completed my youngest daughter's huge dance event at Great America!

Under the Not So Wins heading, we had a couple of tasks that simply never got done.  I had originally planned a pair of career development tasks based around working on my ACK profile for doing voice work for Audible.  I never came near starting those tasks.  It should also be mentioned that my new recipe of dahl and Rice did not quite come together.  Apparently lentils want to be a LOT more boiled than I allowed for.  And last but not least, my eldest daughter is still unsure as to whether or not she really likes having a Dad at home to make her do chores and homework before laying in bed and surfing the internet.  Even though this was put in the Not So Wins column, as a parent I am pretty certain it equals Winning.  ;)

We then sat down and planned the next Sprint, which we called "Solo Daddy" as I will be the only parent on deck for the majority of the Sprint with Cricket in China.  Even though the eldest daughter wanted to bail, I got both kids to sit down with me long enough to plan the next two weeks worth of activities, pulling tasks from each of our buckets for each week.  Each daughter also picked a new recipe for me to try out from the amazing America's Test Kitchen cook book, which should be fun for everyone - assuming they turn out okay.

So, in summary, I think it went pretty well.  Some things I thought I would do transformed into other tasks which I accomplished instead, but all of the major goals were accomplished on target and on time.  Kids are overall happy, wife hasn't sent me back to work yet, and the eldest is complaining about me making her "do stuff".  So far so good!

I also got my kids to help give me my favorite old school death rocker haircut today, which was fun!   My favorite haircuts throughout my life have never come from salons, but were usually done in someones bathroom with a pair of clippers and young people, so I figured why not go back to my roots!  Anyways, it helps save money, which is useful for me these days, since I am officially detached from the Corporate Teet.

Thanks for reading!