When I started my new role as a Scrum Master it was suggested that I journal. The aim of which was to observe how the team works and what the team could improve. This is how it started for me, but it has morphed into something different (but no less valuable). I now run a journal and a log.

The journal has become a more of a personal journal. I do it at the end of every day, and takes between 10 and 15 minutes. I use this to type up what has happened in my day, what I have learned, and how it has made me feel. I do this in Evernote and use the following headers as a template.

Events​

Things I Learned​

Feelings- What am I thankful for? How am I feeling?​

Actions (Consider move to Trello)​

What did I read / listened to today?

Personal

This encourages me to reflect on my day. Over just 4 weeks of journalling I have noticed the following benefits:

Job satisfaction. It has allowed me to gained a better understanding of where I get my job satisfaction. Knowing this I can ensure that my day is made up of the things I love, and less of the things I do not.

Wind down. The act of journalling is like a brain dump for me. The simple act of writing about my day help me clear my head before I get home.

Focus. I am able to spot and understand the things I am avoiding, and focus on solving them. Writing it down makes you face up to all sorts of things.

I am also experimenting with tagging my days with a rating of 1 – 5 from bad to to great. Not sure if this is going to be useful but I plan on looking back on this in a few months.

I do try and note Agile behaviours, but I achieve this through a log. I must admit I have taken to this much less than journalling.