Postmortem Day is January 13!
A new GHDR rule is that 13/13 (technically the 12 month of GHDR) is POSTMORTEM DAY Since there are only 12 months in a year, month 13 is simply January.
Anyway, my postmortem format looks like
- write out how I feel about GHDR 2025 as a whole based on just what I remember
- review month by month reports, noting insights and changes in particular, as well as success markers
- write a nugget or two that summarizes the trends of 2025 in a way I can remember.
How I think it Went The highlights of the year that come to mind
- the **month of building **showed I could still make things and blog, and I accepted with confidence that I was skilled enough to keep doing it
- I felt good in general about how my tools and productivity methods have matured nicely with lots of empirical data to support them
- I think the process of identifying my values to live by in the early part of the year was really foundational to my life philosophy, and I feel good about process I applied to tease it out. I let life events and my reaction to them guide me through the insights; this was not only therapeutic, but also demonstrated maturity of some kind on my part.
- I did deliver some stuff, but I forget what it was. I don’t remember when I did these things, like making improvements to my code.
Takeaway insights that I think happened this year
- When it comes to doing my own projects, getting started is still the hardest thing for me. I need to have some kind of liveliness coming from somewhere other than just myself all the time
- I am pretty adaptable and capable, and don’t let things block me too long. I can usually reroute around anything.
- I still dislike anything that is uncertain or ambiguous, or doesn’t speak directly and truly. However, I find myself being more resilient to it now.
- In construct theory, the idea of “magical adventure cats” became a helpful metaphor for understanding how to combine my inner meta weirdness with approachability by everyone without being “fake”
- The idea that “human emotions” is at the heart of everything I am interested in of a technical, organizational, and media nature. I engineer and design so the human emotional experience is meaningful and adaptable to people’s actual needs where they stand right now, with an eye toward where they want to go
- Reinforcing thought: I love seeing people grow and overcome obstacles they faced with uncertainty before. This is Mom Sri’s nurturing nature.
Things I did this year
- Various improvements to SriGarten and dsriseah.com web experience
- Word Counting Calendar and ETP Journal Renderer
- URSYS related library stuff understood
- The new graphics toolchain on Affinity etc works, whew
- I started to shift DS|CAFE more firmly toward being the humane supportive productive space I would want to be part of
- Restored ETP Stationery physical product chain
- Survived sudden loss of old car, and am super happy that new one worked out
- Interesting documentation on Master Vantage Points, new processes
- Made a new identity and business card foundation
- Oh, I turned the old wordpress static!!! that was a huge deal!!!
- Dipped toe into more leadership positions by starting various group initiatives on DS|CAFE
Summary of the Year (as I understand it right now)…hm…
- Part 1 - defined personal values in a way I can remember (Feb to May)
- Part 2 - consolidated identity and insights with communicating with people (May-June)
- Part 3 - closed three significant life chapters, and began strategic planning (July-August)
- Part 4 - tested self: can I simply use physical motion as way to resolve starting stuckness? (September)
- Part 5 - tested self: knowing I need to make things for strategy to work, building challenge (October-December)
INDEX of GHDR 2025 POSTS
This year’s inquiry: Will deep, daily conversations with like-minded people naturally drive creative independence?
Reframing the inquiry as a mission: I want to create a sharing, caring place where genuine friendships can form!
Rethinking psychological safety as the foundation for creating sharing, caring places in a less serious way.
Taking inspiration from Hong Kong film director Steven Chow, a new mission directive is proposed in the form of a simple question.
Insight from my Taiwan trip leads to the definition of “sentiment-first” communication patterns (aka 90S) as a critical part in “being present”.
Applying the 90S communication pattern with acceptance of my peculiar “cognitive architecture” leads to increased optimism and confidence.
A month of endings and new beginnings. I want to express myself with unapologetically in a way that honors my own values while reducing friction with others. It’s time to reboot.
With the blogging systems now in place, I am free to talk to the world! But what comes next? Time to draw up a new master plan to serve as the cheat sheet for remembering my motivations, values, and desires.
The time for reflection is over! Rebooting the design business is the core strategic goal and will begin with a new 30 Day Challenge as last seen in 2014.
Up to Day 19 of the 30 Day Challenge! It’s going well so far, but the real assessment will come in December.
A review of the Month of Building, which went very well overall. However, there is a lot of additional evaluiation work remaining to be done.
A quick postmortem of 2025.
GHDR Report 1212: A Strong Finish to the Year
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