Continuing my tradition of writing a retrospective (2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2016, 2015, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010) or look ahead (2019, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010), in this post I’ll recap 2024 and share goals for what is ahead in 2025.

Disclaimer: Yes, I know it is already 3+ months into 2025 as I write this. I’ve put off writing in general for too long, but it’s never too late to start back up again.

Milestone

Last year I turned 40. It feels odd to say that in general, but looking back over the last ~2 years it has been a time of big change personally, professionally, and with my family. I recently commented on a Bluesky post from a random user who mentioned they were also turning 40.

Going from 39 to 40 was a much bigger "reflection -> take action" point in my life than I would have imagined. I had a list of really big "someday I'd like to…" items that I started consciously working on and now I'm actively pushing forward with in my life.Make time for yourself.

— Brian T. Jackett (@briantjackett.com) 2025-04-10T17:12:04.437Z

When I was 39 and looking ahead to 40, there were a number of big things that I wanted to do in the coming 5+ years. I think that arbitrary age of “turning 40” was a good motivational kick to get started on those goals. Already I’ve started:

• Learning Spanish (again) – 755 day streak on Duolingo
• Training for half marathon race
• Started Diaconate pre-req classes and formation discussions
• Applied and accepted into management position for my team at work

If you are looking at big, audacious goals in your life, what concrete steps are you taking to achieve them and on what timeline?

Exercise

As mentioned above, one of my goals is to complete a half marathon race. In 2023-2024 I increased my walking routine on my home office treadmill, getting up to 12 miles per week (4 days a week of ~3 miles). Now that we’re into 2025 I’ve also registered for a 5k (completed in March), 10k (2 months away in June), and half marathon (Oct 2025).

https://www.linkedin.com/embed/feed/update/urn:li:share:7309914046776913920?collapsed=1

Recapping 2024 here were my stats for the year.

https://twitter.com/BrianTJackett/status/1742557691359203655

• 194 days with exercise
• 371 miles ran (400 total with cycling)
• 160.3 hours ran

A big thank you to a number of friends who have shared training plans, nutrition advice, and encouragement for my half marathon training. I’m also incorporating other strength and core workouts to help prepare. Looking forward to crossing that finish line in 6 months!

Reading

Since 2021 I have been reading books more regularly. You can view my profile on GoodReads along with “read” and “want to read” lists.  I set my 2024 GoodReads challenge to read 8 books and ended at reading 9. A few were last minute short reads at the end of the year, but still made it. One thing I did notice is that I had gotten very heavy into religious books (for classes and related) but found that I enjoyed mixing up into other topics. Going forward I’m trying spread out topics so that I keep up interest in reading more regularly.

A few noteworthy books from 2024:

• The Power of Showing Up
  • My 3 children are starting to grow into adolescence / pre-teen. My wife and I have had conversations about making the most of our time with our children while they are still young and making memories. I appreciate how this book gives simple advice for “being present” with family members. It is not about what you buy them, lavish trips / vacations, or even the words that you say to them. It is about simply showing up and creating an environment where children feel safe and encouraged. I would recommend this to parents / caregivers, but primarily with younger children if possible.
• The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming
  • As a Catholic / Christian, I’ve heard the story of the Prodigal Son dozens of times for decades. I read this book as part of a men’s group at my church. I was fascinated with how the author dissected various aspects of this painting, applied them to different perspectives of the characters in the story, and related it to his own personal life and journey. Even if you are not practicing a faith, highly recommend reading for reflection.
• Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less
  • Many of us can likely relate to feeling overwhelmed, not getting enough rest, and constantly playing catch up after you do “rest”. I enjoyed the ways this author outlined building rest into your daily / weekly / annual life, how to use rest time more effectively, and setting expectations around self-care. You can’t perform at your best if you are constantly fatigued. Personally I’ve struggled with this (borderline burnout) in the past year+, so this is definitely an area I need to work more on.

For my 2025 GoodReads challenge I’ve set a goal to read 8 books again and already making progress.

Diaconate formation

As mentioned in my 2023 retrospective, I’ve begun pre-requisite classes to become a deacon within the Catholic Church. I have completed 5 requirements and only have 1 remaining. I’m already starting to read the book for the next class so that I don’t get overwhelmed with class work in addition to work / family life. I’ve also been helped by meeting every other month with a spiritual director (priest from my hometown) to discuss life, faith, and my future endeavors.

Work & management role

In early 2024, I applied for and was accepted to take a management position for my current team (M365 Copilot Extensibility CPx). I had been discussing with my then manager about moving into a management role. I had been interested to take a small step back from the technical focus of my role and instead grow in guiding the careers of my teammates. It has been just over a year since I took on this role and it has been very rewarding so far. I can’t say if this will be my continued path forever, but I look to continue pushing myself and others to be the best that we can.

One aspect that has been a challenge in the last year is the pace of work life combined with my children growing older and being active in more activities. As I tell some of my peers, the AI boom has been “gas pedal to the floor for 12-18 months” and not let up much. In the past we used to have cycles of intense pushes and then lulls to build up for the next push. With our AI advancements, most of those former lulls are now additional mini-marketing moments, pivots to more promising focus areas, or similar. I truly treasure the time off that I take for family vacations or other needs. It is important to “touch ground” so that I can recharge my own personal batteries.

Learning Spanish

One interesting side item is that I started to (re-)learn Spanish. In grade school and high school when I took 5 years of Spanish classes. I signed our family up for Duolingo (everyone now learning at least 1 language / music / mathematics) as well as try to find time to practice with others from my church (large Hispanic population) or peers at work. I’m on a 760-day streak so far and enjoying this very much. If you’d like to practice together sometimes reach out and let me know.

Conclusion

2024 (and now part of 2025) feels like it has flown by. Reflecting on what I wanted to accomplish has truly been helpful in making intentional choices on how I spend my time, deciding what I say no to (to make time for the things I say yes to), and setting up longer term plans. I hope 2024 treated you well and that you are making progress on your own goals. Feel free to share any of your experiences in the comments or link to your own reflection from 2024.

-Frog Out

Credits
Coin operated telescope – Matt Howard
Pair of blue and white adidas running shoes – Sporlab
HOLA LED signage – Jon Tyson

Continuing my tradition of writing a retrospective (2022, 2021, 2020, 2016, 2015, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010) or look ahead (2019, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010), in this post I’ll recap 2023 and share goals for what is ahead in 2023.

Exercise

For the past few years I have been making good use of my home office treadmill (Treadly 2) as well as biking with my kids. In 2023 I increased the number of days of exercise (33% of days up to 45%) as well as total distance for the year.

https://twitter.com/BrianTJackett/status/1742557691359203655

• 167 days with exercise
• 422 miles ran
• 168.7 hours ran

I don’t have specific goals for 2024 but looking to continue my exercise (2-4 days a week on treadmill for 60-80 mins).

Reading

Since 2021 I have been reading books more regularly. You can view my profile on GoodReads along with “read” and “want to read” lists.  I set my 2023 GoodReads challenge to read 8 books and ended at reading 12. I was on track to read more but with my Diaconate classes (more on that next) my time was wrapped in classwork and required reading for my class for half of the year. A few noteworthy books from 2023:

• The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace
  • I had previously read The 5 Love Languages with my wife. This book takes those same “languages” but adapts to them to the workplace. I actually used the lessons from this book in an org-wide initiative about Feeling Recognition. I was happy to have direct application from book to real-world in this case.
• Radical Focus : Achieving Your Most Important Goals with Objectives and Key Results
  • I read this book as part of a book club within my larger group at work. I found this an interesting read compared to John Doerr’s Measure What Matters. We had many lively discussions about how to apply these concepts to our semester planning and OKR settings.

For my 2024 GoodReads challenge I’ve set a goal to read 8 books again.

Diaconate classes

For the past 4+ years I’ve had reflections on my personal calling to become a deacon within the Catholic Church. I’ve been very active in various groups and ministries throughout my life, but in these past few years this has come up more regularly.

After speaking with a few deacons at our church, my wife and I finally decided to meet with the deacon in charge of formation in our diocese. He was very open and supportive of my interests and had great points for further reflection.

Currently I am in the inquirer phase and have taken 2 pre-requisite classes and just about to start my 3rd class. The whole experience has been very fulfilling as well as helping me adopt a few daily good habits that lead to improved overall well-being. I am continuing in my discernment, but any major next steps won’t happen until 2025-2026.

Copilot for Microsoft 365

In my role at Microsoft, our Microsoft Graph Customer and Partner Experience team made a large shift in priorities around May 2023 to expand our coverage of Microsoft 365 developer integrations, specifically with Copilot for Microsoft 365. This included expanding our Microsoft Graph TAP to rebrand as the Microsoft 365 Developer TAP and incorporate Copilot extensibility topics.

This has been quite the whirlwind for the past 8+ months but exciting times to be at the forefront of this new AI technology offerings. 2024 will continue with these investments across my individual team and larger org.

Family

As you might have noticed, I slowed down on blogging in 2023. This was primarily related to the above two items of Diaconate classes and Copilot for M365 work, but also to increases in involvements with my family. I’m a den leader for my son’s Cub Scout den, fill-in for coaching various sports teams my kids are on, as well as volunteering for different church programs and events. Combined with my wife returning to work part time the end of last year and that left little time for side projects with blogging.

My wife and I also celebrated our 10 yr wedding anniversary. We took a wonderful 6-day trip out to Arizona and had the most amazing time with hiking, train ride, music, and good meals.

I’ll revisit blogging and videos more regularly in the future, but for now you can take a look at 2 Copilot & Graph connectors videos I produced with our marketing team in 2023.

Extend Copilot for Microsoft 365 with external data with Graph connectors

Use Microsoft Graph Connectors To Integrate External Data With Microsoft 365

Conclusion

2023 was a packed year with new experiences, family events, and more. I hope you had a joy-filled year and grew personally and professionally. Feel free to share any of your experiences in the comments or link to your own reflection from 2023. Looking forward to all that 2024 has to offer.

-Frog Out

Credits
2 hikers on mountain – Sylvain Mauroux
Books on table – Tom Hermans

This week is “Perspectives Week” (time to request or provide feedback to peers across the org / company) so I’ll share out some of my tips on how I approach this:

• Where
  • I use our internal MSConnect tool for majority of feedback requests, but also Yammer Praise for sending kudos / feedback to people who may not have requested feedback from me.
• Who
  • Identify a mix of people inside your group (M2, aka manager’s manager, level and below) as well as outside.
  • Target individuals in varying roles (ex. marketing, engineering, sales, etc.) 
• When
  • I like to request feedback 2x times per calendar year, ~2 months before my next semesterly review cycle (called a “Connect”).
    • This usually lands Feb-Mar and Sept-Oct.  This also avoids semester planning timeframes when many teams are heads down on writing / reviewing papers.
  • Do not request feedback from someone more than 1x per year.
    • This is not a hard requirement, but I find my own feedback for someone doesn’t change drastically within a given year.
• How
  • Customize your request for feedback.
    • Include specific projects / teams / work efforts that you have collaborated on to focus the person’s feedback on.
    • Ex. “As we have been working together on <Project X>, I would appreciate any feedback you can share on my work or areas for improvement. Thank you for your time and attention.”
  • Provide constructive / usable feedback.
    • When filling out feedback for others, take the time to share actionable or thought-provoking feedback.
    • Avoid “you’re doing a great job” type bland feedback.

Two final notes.

• Use the feedback system that makes sense
  • Not everyone is comfortable with sharing feedback is an official tool.  Others may prefer 1:1 chat / email / face to face.
• Don’t worry if you don’t get a response
  • People are busy.  I know a number of peers who are overwhelmed by the number of feedback requests they receive (in addition to normal work).  You can “nudge” someone 1:1 if they haven’t responded on your feedback request, but also be respectful of their time.

How do you approach sharing and requesting feedback? Share your thoughts in the comments.

-Frog Out

Reference:
Header image from Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/photos/architecture-modern-building-facade-1048092

Continuing my tradition of writing a retrospective (2021, 2020, 2016, 2015, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010) or look ahead (2019, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010), in this post I’ll recap 2022 and share goals for what is ahead in 2023.

Retrospective

A few years ago, my wife and I bought a digital picture frame as a Christmas gift for our family (one of the best gifts as our kids love seeing older pictures of our family). This morning I saw down to review photos my wife and I took over the last year to load onto our picture frame. Turns out 2022 was an interesting year for a number of reasons:

• The first half of the year (almost) everyone in our photos was masking / social distancing (compared to now when it is much less common)
• My wife and I are reminded of the sweet times when our kids are hugging, helping each other, etc. instead of the other times when they are “not as sweet”
• Family traditions are starting to develop (special photo poses during summer vacation, birthday celebration activities, etc.)

Overall, 2022 was a good year, so here is a look back at some of the bigger things for me personally.

Reading books

Building on my 2021 book challenge to read more (finished 10 with a goal of 4 that year), in 2022 I set a goal of reading 6 books. I received great book recommendations from friends / co-workers and I ended the year reading 18 books. You can view my list of books read in 2022. I most recommend the following:

• Creativity Inc – Ed Catmull
• The Making of a Manager – Julie Zhuo
• The Ride of a Lifetime – Robert Iger
• Ask Iwata – Satoru Iwata-san, Hobonichi, Sam Bett
• Project Hail Mary – Andy Weir
• Atomic Habits – James Clear

Going into 2023 I’m targeting 8 books for the year. I could target higher, but I’m also getting more involved in a number of school / church / family commitments this year, so I want to leave room for those as well.

Fitness

At the start of 2022 I purchased a Treadly 2 treadmill. This came highly recommended from a former teammate of mine. (Ignore all of the wires under my desk, project for another day…)

My goal was to get 15-20 mins of walking in my home office (I have an adjustable desk) a few days a week. Over the course of the year, I slowly increased the speed and duration of my walks. By the end of the 2022 I was walking 60-75 mins 3-5x times a week.

As an added bonus, I found out through my tracking app that I walked 120+ days of the year (literally 1 in every 3 days) and also walked more than 1,000,000 steps total.

Separately I’ve also been using a “core body” workout app to do a short morning workout for 10-20 mins about 3-4x times a week. I started halfway through 2022 and made good progress. I’ve lost 10 pounds and kept it off as well as shrunk my waist size a bit. Nice to have pants fitting more comfortably again.

I’m continuing my treadmill walking and exercise into the new year. I completed 2x 4-mile races at the end of last year. I don’t have goals to complete more races this year though as I hadn’t trained for those (treadmill walking doesn’t really compare to outdoor running).

Conferences

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most in-person conferences were cancelled or went virtual over the past 2+ years. The Stir Trek Conference that I help organize came as a hybrid event last May. We were not certain how attendance all-up would be, let alone in-person attendance. We had a lower target for all-up attendance (1,500 total, ~1,000 in-person) but were pleasantly surprised that we sold out of tickets and did end up having more than 1,000 attend in person last May.

Our board of organizers is very thankful to everyone who supported us through the pandemic. Especially from a good number of attendees and sponsors agreeing to keep their registration money with us (we had a big financial hit from cancelling our 2020 event). We’ve already begun planning for 2023 and are looking to open up tickets to our previous max (~2,100 total).

Separate from Stir Trek, in 2022 I did present at a number of virtual events and conferences, most of them internal or Microsoft-run events though. Starting off 2023, I’m Presenting at M365 Twin Cities 2023 which is my first presentation at a community conference in over 3 years. Looking forward to other opportunities over the coming year.

2022 goals progress

Recapping my goals for 2022, I can confidently say I hit all of them.

• Read 6 books (read 18)
• Walk 5 miles per week (6-9 miles most weeks)
• Compete in a dance competition (March 2022, and no I’m not sharing pictures 😉)

Looking ahead

My wife and I are kicking off 2023 with some family planning activities as well as home organization projects. We’re also celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary later this year, so looking forward to a special trip near the end of the year.

Aside from those things, we’re actively encouraging our kids to find activities or clubs that spark their interest. This also means getting to know more families at our school and other places. Overall, I think 2023 will be a year focused on family growth / evolution, but without specific goals in mind at the moment.

Conclusion

As the world continues to experience many ups-and-downs, what are you focusing on for 2023? What things do you want leave behind or continue doing from 2022? Feel free to share any ideas or answers in the comments.

-Frog Out

Sources

Header Image by Ludo-Photos from Pixabay: link

Who has helped you recently? When did you last send them a praise / kudos / etc.?

On a monthly basis I lead a team retrospective for our Microsoft Graph CPx team. I generally adjust the questions each month so that we don’t keep repeating the same questions / responses each month.

This month, as part of our retrospective I posed the questions at top of this post.

• Who has helped you recently?
• When did you last send them a praise / kudos / etc.?

While everyone was able to identify people or teams that have helped them, responses to the second question varied from “I send perspectives feedback / praise regularly to X, Y, and Z” to “I haven’t sent anything to those people in awhile, thanks for the reminder”.

Personally, in addition to my monthly personal retrospective I also schedule time (~15 mins) on my calendar each month to send out praise to people that have helped me recently. Case in point, as we’re wrapping up this calendar year I just filled out 3 perspectives feedback requests before writing this post.

I encourage everyone to make a habit (schedule recurring time on your calendar, set a repeating ToDo reminder, etc.) of:

1. identifying people that have helped you in the last week / month
2. send those people a thank you / praise / kudos

How are you expressing your gratitude to others that have helped you?

-Frog Out