Create your Development Plan

Start by copying the linked Development Career Plan spreadsheet and reading the linked guidance text for your chosen areas. Select the 2–3 areas you struggle with most, define SMART goals and realistic actions in the spreadsheet, enable commenting, and replace <LINK_GOES_HERE> with the completed plan link.

Coursework content

You should have analysed your weekly patterns and started identifying improvement areas by now. In this exercise, we'll create a few positive areas for your performance and well-being and convert those into a plan.

Areas that matter most:

• Time to learn: You reserve enough time and energy to learn
• Start of the day: You start the day with a clear mind
• Income: You create a stable financial income (if possible)
• Boundaries: You set clear boundaries between work, study, family and other responsibilities
• Distractions: You minimise distractions from the internet
• Teamwork: You learn to work with others and ask for help
• Food: You eat food that enhances energy and concentration
• Daily Learning: you manage to concentrate and work on your training daily, even if for a short amount of time

Considering these areas, which are the 2-3 you struggle with most? Choose them and add them to your "Development Career Plan" spreadsheet as a "Theme".

Now, read this text about your area so that you can define your goals for each theme. Be as SMART as possible with your goals.

Example of learning/development needs:

• Daily 20 min walk to reduce my anxiety
• Make sure I finish my shift on time so I can study
• Sleep by X so I can get up early and study
• Make notes of the number of hours I am studying so that I can have evidence of my development
• Practice mindfulness 5 minutes a day to enhance my focus

The next step is to define your actions to achieve that goal. Remember to challenge yourself, but at the same time, be realistic. Thinking about small steps to reach your bigger goal is also good. With every little (maybe daily, weekly) achievement, you get closer to it.

Write these actions on the same spreadsheet so you can assess them regularly.

If you have some time, share this with your pair so that you can give each other insights.

Estimated time in hours

1

What is the purpose of this assignment?

We all have to make changes and adapt our routines to achieve goals. But we cannot change everything at once and will change different things according to our reality. This exercise is for you to take the first step to planning these actions. It's not about size but about the impact it will have in your life as a developer.

How to submit

1. Make a copy of the development plan template (if you haven't already).
2. Update the settings so anyone can comment on it. You can do this by:
   a. Clicking Share in the top-right corner
   b. Updating the General access to allow "Anyone with the link", and change the role (right-hand drop-down) from Viewer to Commenter
3. Replace the placeholder below with the link to your development plan document

My development plan: <LINK_GOES_HERE>

Anything else?

The Development Plan is not a one-off exercise. It is a plan you should review constantly with your new knowledge and when you have developed new skills.