There is a quote by John Dewey, We do not learn from the experience, we learn from reflecting on the experience. In 1988, the American sociologist and psychologist Graham Gibbs published a well-known Reflective Cycle model in his book, Learning by Doing.
Gibbs Reflective Cycle encourages individuals to reflect on their experience systematically after encountering a particular situation, event, or activity. In this blog, you will use the Gibbs Reflective Cycle to self-reflect on your experience after a product release.
In the software industry, product release refers to launching a new application. A release manager or coordinator understands the demanding situations when applications are released. The Gibbs Reflective Cycle aids in analyzing your experience and using those insights for a seamless product release.
The first phase of the Gibbs Reflective Cycle is Description. You initiate this phase with a question What happened?. Take a moment to carefully consider the following questions:
- When did the release take place?
- Did the release happen?
- Who was involved in the release?
- What did you do yourself?
- What did others do?
- What were the results of all these actions?
Moving onto the second phase, Feelings. Start documenting what you were thinking. Take a moment to carefully consider the following questions:
- What did you feel after the event?
- Since we are sticking to the product launch, how did you feel about this?
- Is it going to be a success?
- If yes, why were the people involved? If not, why were the people involved?
- What are your contributions? What are your feelings about it?
- What did you think that others felt during the event?
- How do you look back on the situation?
- What have you learned from the situation?
Moving on to the third phase, Evaluation. You have to decide whether an experience is good, bad, or satisfactory. Take a moment to carefully consider the following questions:
- If the experience was good, what was your approach?
- If the incident was not up to the mark, why didn't it work?
- What are the areas of improvement?
- What were your contributions?
- What contributions did other people make?
Moving on to the fourth phase, Analysis. Focus on what sense can you make of the situation? Take a moment to carefully consider the following questions:
- What are the learnings you want to go ahead and adopt to understand a product better?
- What can you do better in the future, and what do you need to convey to your team?
- Moving on to the fifth phase, Conclusion. In this phase, you think what else could you have done? Analyze the following:
- While expecting a favorable situation, did the activity lead to any negative instances?
- So, what is the overall experience?
Finally, the last phase, Action plan. How will you handle the situation in the future? Take a moment to carefully consider the following questions:
- What skills do you need to work on for similar events?
- What will you do differently next time, and how will you achieve this?
You have taken the time to reflect on the product release process and have key takeaways from your experience. In the upcoming series, I will guide you through my product release experience.
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