Project Retrospectives
Guidance
A retrospective is a way to share what went well, what needs improvement, and gathers the action steps to consider in future efforts. Here is a link with basic guidance.
List of Project Retrospectives
Create NRTH Website
Establish initial web presence of the NRTH on the web.
What went well
- Able to use Divi templates to jumpstart
- Collaboration
- Simon’s aesthetic sensibility
- Review and comments from volunteers
Needs improvement
- Need to understand how to use Divi
- Lack of clear configuration metadata
- Understanding of the ecosystem
- No password management
- Seat of the pants changes
- Readability
- Little copy writing
- Using volunteers
- No padding to do tasks
Actions to take
- Establish password management
- Establish project mgmt
- Improve contrast and font size for older eyes
- Need business side copy writing
- Plan so no death marches
2019 Social Experiment
Establish and run year long community experiment in social change
What went well
- Implemented Mighty Networks
- Learned how to run a community in MN
- Established community
- Ran course
- Established processes and approaches
- Built relationships in community
- Created document of learnings of the experiment
Needs improvement
- Implement under NRTH domain
- Weave into NRTH ecosystem
Actions to take
- Wrap MN in NRTH Domain
- Integrate into ecosystem
- Implement learnings into next course
2020 Cracking the Code of Rapid Social Change
Establish and run year long community experiment in social change
What went well
Needs improvement
Actions to take
- Integrate into ecosystem
- Implement learnings into next course
Refactor Website and Content Mgmt
Refactor wordpress websites and implement kickstarter and podcast.
What went well
- Added WooCommerce Membership
- Added Beyond Awakening Series CPT
- Added Person CPT
- Added Resource CPT
- Refactored entire website to use Divi Theme Builder
- Implemented custom fields for data driven dynamic post/page generation
- Understanding of Divi improved
- Added CPT UI and Advanced Custom Fields plugin for more advanced WP capabilities
- Understanding of ecosystem being documented
Needs improvement
- Need designer to work with web dev
- Lack of clear configuration metadata
- Need agreement on architectures
- No password management
- Lot’s of significant last minute changes
- Project mgmt
- Lot’s of stubbing of content – need copy writing
- Using volunteers to extreme
- No padding to do tasks
- No death marches
- Too little responsibility from business side
Actions to take
- Establish password management
- Establish project mgmt
- Need business side copy writing
- Plan so no death marches
- Hire Designer
- Hire Web Developer
Kickstarter
Establish funding mechanism for NRTH staff
What went well
- kickstarter goal was exceeded
- WooCommerce Membership and rules established for web platform
- Onboarded Masen
Needs improvement
- No padding to do tasks
Actions to take
- Need project mgmt
- Need requirements
- Need to establish template patterns for work/document
Implement Podcast
Establish NRTH podcast
What went well
- Implementation of Libsyn
- Incorporation of podcast into website
- Implementation of WooCommerce Membership
- Migration of Beyond Awakening
- Kickstarter
Needs improvement
- No business side person to do business operations for products, product rules, membership
- No requirements, emerge on the fly
- Understanding of the ecosystem
- No password management
- No project mgmt
- Poor collaboration across ecosystem
- Using volunteers
- No padding to do tasks
- Death march – each of 3 times date changed
- Hierarchy of responsibilities
- No regard for laying foundations early and in logical sequence
- Assumption technical implementation will take care of itself – quickly
- Need to consider entire ecosystem – new thing, adjustments of old things, brand
- Fragmenting brand
Actions to take
- Password management
- Establish project mgmt
- Business side copy writing
- Plan so no death marches
- Stop heroic approach!
Establish the Business of NRTH Non-Profit
Establish NRTH podcast
What went well
Needs improvement
Actions to take
- Password management
- Establish project mgmt
- Business side copy writing
- Plan so no death marches
- Stop heroic approach!