SUMMIT 2019: A Quiet Retrospective

[#1]

A long, long, time ago…  🕧🌟

Wow. Doesn’t time fly…? Already August. CRAZY ! ! 2019 certainly isn’t letting us have any time for respite or taking it easy.

I was just having a coffee break, taking it all in - this year, this life, this existence -and I found myself going over some awesome community blogs. That’s when I stumbled on some old Summit stuff! Most of it can be found via ---> HERE: Monique's legendary Summit Scavenger Hunt!. (@Monique vdB you are a legend!)

Amazing to think it is now already 5 months ago…. we are almost half way to next year’s Summit!

Despite that fact I am not getting too excited about 2020 just yet – afterall, there is Atlassian Open still to come!! Atlassian Open (and Christmas... Hee hee!🤶🏼🎅🏻🎄🎁) - and decided some peaceful reflection on this year’s summit was in order.

Retrospective Time 🤓🔠🔢

What better way to do a reflection on Summit than as a retrospective!? 😊 The perfect way to do so in my opinon. Also there’s no better tool to use than CONFLUENCE 😊

The below speaks for itself (just hope it’s legible!)…

Whilst this is a more personal look back on summit, I did get in contact with the fabulous @Bridget Sauer and ask for some cool stats about Summit and put those in too!

So even though it is so many months ago and it feels like Summit 2020 is closer than 2019, what does your own personal Retrospective of Summit this year look like…!?

(And feel free to just describe it… nerdy use of Confluence is optional!)

Special thanks to my Live Stream Experience and FOMO-USIE buddies for unwittingly being part of my retro ! !

@Monique vdB / @Jodi LeBlanc / @Ollie Guan / @carolyn french / @Daniel Eads / @Steven Zachary / @Fabienne Gerhard 

[Jimmy Seddon]

@Andy - PTC Redundant this is fantastic!  I LOVE your retrospective! I'm going to spend some time tonight to do one of my own (won't be that fancy) and I'll be sure to post it!

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

@Jimmy Seddon : Awesome! Looking forward to it. You just gave me a greaaaaaat idea actually. I can collect everyone's Retros and keep updating them into mine so after a few days/weeks there's a mega Atlassian Community Retro ! ! :D

[Jimmy Seddon]

That's an amazing idea!  Nerd out all over that data!

[carolyn french]

@Andy - PTC Redundant  Long live the mega fomo usie!

You and @Jodi LeBlanc were top participators in my armchair scavenger hunt of the LSE and that makes you AWESOME in my book. It was fun...

[Jodi LeBlanc]

So many memories, I loved the virtual summit experience - great retrospective article Andy! Carolyn thanks for your kind words, I feel the same about you both and hoping we can celebrate in-person together next year! :)

[Jimmy Seddon]

@Andy - PTC Redundant as promised my very un-sexy version of the retro using your format above:

Highlights of the Summit
Live experience was so amazing it can only be summed up as "10/10 would do again!"

Good... and not so good
What went well:
- The mobile app for the Summit made it really easy to build a schedule and connect with other people even before the summit began.
- Using the mobile app was able to meet other Atlassian admins with similar personal interests which made it easier to get to know some people (Game of Thrones FTW!)
- So many good interactions and conversations with other admins and Atlassian staff.
- Learned some many things like the existence of the Atlassian Community
- Made some really good connections with people that I have kept in touch with long after the summit ended.

What could have been better:
- Shy personality in a foreign country, who doesn't know anyone else at the summit.
- Wasn't prepared for the "Summit Experience" there were a number of missed opportunities.
- Number of sleeping hours during the Summit was less than ideal (too much to see!)

Start, Stop, Keep & Consider

Start Doing:
- Join the Atlassian Community and start being an active member both helping and learning from others.
- Take at least one certification exam to prove to self you know a little bit about the Atlassian products.
- Figure out how to get approval both from work and the wife to go to the 2020 Summit.
- Use what I learned from the Summit to alter some of our Atlassian tooling to follow best practices and make processes more user friendly and efficient.

Stop Doing:
- Thinking about all the things I should have done differently at the 2019 Summit and make those goals to do at the 2020 Summit.

Keep Doing:
- Talking up how everything that has been going well with our tooling is a direct result of attending the Summit.
- Mentioning how beneficial it would be to go to the 2020 Summit especially as a Community Leader.

Consider Doing:
- Figure out how to win a free summit pass to make the work approval process easier.
- Schedule vacation time and a trip to Vegas around the time the Summit will be happening.

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

@Jimmy Seddon : Wow! That is AWESOME....! I am nerding out hard. Thanks so much for this. Perfect retro!

@Jodi LeBlanc : THANKS JODI! :oD

@carolyn french : How kind of you to say....! Thank you so much. You too are in the Andy Book registered under AWESOME!