In his book Good to Great, author Jim Collins asks the reader:
Do you have a "to do" list?
Do you also have a "stop doing" list?
He goes on by saying:
Those who built the good-to-great companies, however, made as much use of "stop doing" lists as "to do" lists. They displayed a remarkable discipline to unplung all sorts of extraneous junk.
With this in mind, I've decided to create my own personal "stop doing" list. With all those annual reviews, comments from previous clients or teams that I've coached, I have enough material to build it. To remind me often about things I have to stop doing, I've put it in front of my computer screen at work.
As a Scrum Master, it's always good to walk the talk. When I work with teams to find things they should stop doing, my own personal list demonstrate how I apply this technique to myself. If it's good for me, could it be useful for them?
Uneccessary question from readers: Did you ask your step-mom to provide more themes on this list?