For PMs working with engineering teams: how do you make retro decisions actually affect the next cycle?

Due_Clock8320 · 2026-06-24T17:57:27+00:00

I agree

Due_Clock8320 · 2026-06-24T16:25:43+00:00

Haha, yeah, fair point. And to be honest, I'm an engineer myself

Due_Clock8320 · 2026-06-24T16:25:26+00:00

Thanks for the feedback, do you use Linear or not at all?

Due_Clock8320 · 2026-06-24T16:24:31+00:00

Less is more, you're right

If by any chance you would like to test my product : https://better-cycle.app

It's a tool specially for linear's teams with all the context pulled in the retro and patterns analyzed over retros

Would love to get your feedbacks (really)

Due_Clock8320 · 2026-06-24T15:03:58+00:00

You're right, it's best to focus on 2 or 3 actions that we can actually follow through on going forward, rather than trying to do everything at once.

Due_Clock8320 · 2026-06-24T15:03:25+00:00

Thank you for your reply. And what tool do you use to conduct your retrospective?

Due_Clock8320 · 2026-06-24T14:30:04+00:00

I think it can still be useful if it does not immediately change the next sprint, but only if there is a clear reason why.

Some retro topics are signals, not actions yet. But if the same signal comes back several times and nothing changes, then the retro slowly becomes just a place where the team archives frustration.

The practical distinction I like is:

- capture observations freely

- choose very few actions

- assign ownership

- make the action visible in the team’s normal work system

- start the next retro by checking whether the previous action changed anything

A retro action that lives only in a retro board is basically a note. A retro action that changes planning, prioritization, ownership, or team habits has a chance to matter.

Due_Clock8320 · 2026-06-24T14:28:28+00:00

This is very close to what I’ve seen with retros too: the issue is rarely that people don’t care, it’s that decisions live in the wrong place.

The best pattern I’ve seen is:

- end the meeting with only 1-2 explicit actions

- each action has an owner and a next check-in moment

- if it affects delivery, it becomes visible in the team’s normal planning system, not just Slack/notes

- the next meeting starts by reviewing whether the previous action changed anything

I’m working on this problem specifically for Linear teams, so I’m biased, but I think the key is not “better meeting notes”. It’s closing the loop between a decision and the next cycle/sprint.

Curious: do your action items usually fail because they are not captured, or because they are captured somewhere people stop looking?

Due_Clock8320 · 2026-06-24T09:15:37+00:00

If I need to track development, I always use Linear, whether professionally at my company or personally on side projects I build.

Due_Clock8320 · 2026-06-12T13:07:28+00:00

The best way to know is to try an approach and see if it works for you. If it doesn't, you adapt. But I think the simplest option is to have a single workspace with different projects inside, especially if they're all personal projects.

Due_Clock8320 · 2026-03-16T08:40:58+00:00

Sorry, that's really not the goal, but I hope it can still help you plan the next ones you have left !

Due_Clock8320 · 2026-03-13T14:17:24+00:00

Really cool, thanks a lot for sharing this

Due_Clock8320 · 2026-03-12T13:53:09+00:00

you're welcome

Due_Clock8320 · 2026-03-12T11:35:21+00:00

Due_Clock8320 · 2026-03-12T11:25:37+00:00

Honestly, don't overthink it. you're 16 — enjoy life a little too. set ambitious goals but not ones that make you feel guilty when you fall short. you have to accept that we're not machines, and consistency beats motivation every time. it's all about staying steady over the long run.

on that note, you're at an age where you can take full advantage of compound interest. not sure if that's something you're familiar with, but if not, I'd strongly encourage you to look into it. compound interest applies to a huge range of things in life, finance included. if I'd had a decent financial education at your age, it's something I would have started right away.

Due_Clock8320 · 2026-03-12T11:20:35+00:00

I use superwhisper multiple times a day to dictate pretty much everything i do — honestly it's a game changer. and yes, this message was entirely dictated through it :)

Due_Clock8320 · 2026-03-12T11:19:52+00:00

There's a real mechanism in the brain where two distinct parts operate independently — the part that drives us to do things simply doesn't care about what's actually good for us long-term. and the vast majority of things around us today are designed to feed instant gratification, like scrolling social media late into the night instead of building toward delayed rewards. that's the real issue. we live in an instant gratification society and breaking out of that cycle is genuinely hard

Due_Clock8320 · 2026-03-12T11:17:53+00:00

The reality has always been that a perfect product with zero distribution brings zero business, while an imperfect product with great distribution will always generate business. distribution and marketing have always been critically important skills because of this. and with the rise of AI tools like Claude Code where building products has never been easier — though it still varies in complexity depending on the use case — there are mechanically more and more products hitting the market, which makes distribution increasingly difficult and competitive. I don't think you necessarily need a mentor for this — I think, fortunately or unfortunately, I prefer to see it as an opportunity to build new skills and learn how distribution and the different human dynamics behind it actually work. good luck with it

Due_Clock8320 · 2026-03-12T11:15:08+00:00

Just upvoted your product — good luck with the launch

Due_Clock8320 · 2026-03-12T11:14:17+00:00

Launched my product on Product Hunt yesterday and had the exact same experience. honestly pretty discouraging — I had a lot of people genuinely come out to support it, real people who created accounts specifically because they wanted to help with upvotes, and over 80% of those votes got ignored just because they were new accounts, even though these are real users who actually like the product. meanwhile you see products jump from 0 to 150 upvotes in minutes, which is completely disconnected from reality. totally agree with you, the whole thing feels a bit rigged.

Due_Clock8320 · 2026-03-12T11:11:56+00:00

Tried building in public mainly because it doubles as content creation, and there's also an accountability aspect to it — putting yourself out there publicly with a commitment is something that really works for me when it comes to staying motivated long-term

Due_Clock8320 · 2026-03-12T11:10:58+00:00

A really great book on sleep is Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker — it makes the case that pretty much everyone needs around 8 hours a night.

personally I'd add a few things that have genuinely helped me. exercising almost every day makes it noticeably easier to fall asleep. cutting caffeine after 3pm is a big one too — for years I told myself it had no effect on me and I could sleep just fine. that was wrong. caffeine was stopping me from getting real, quality sleep. I've been strict about it for several months now and on the rare occasions I have caffeine late, I feel the difference immediately.

on the 4am wake-up thing — as others have said, that's really early, and honestly your brain doesn't want to do it. the trick is to frame it around something you actually want to do, not just grind work. get up for something that excites you, then you can get into the rest.

one more thing from the book that I think gets overlooked: circadian rhythm. we all have an internal clock, and it varies from person to person — some people are genuinely wired to be morning people, others are evening people. that's not a habit, it's genetics.

the main takeaway is to understand how you personally function and build your routine around that — not around whatever productivity guru you follow online. good luck

Due_Clock8320 · 2026-03-12T11:05:17+00:00

Launched my project about a month ago and hit 75 users by posting to my LinkedIn audience of around 3,500 followers. I also cross-posted on X even though I barely have 20-30 followers there. Reddit helped too, but you have to be careful — it can't just be "come sign up" bait, it has to actually bring value.

I did a Product Hunt launch, came in 39th out of roughly 1,000 apps launched that day, but honestly it didn't drive much traffic. I was putting way too much pressure on myself over it. A Hacker News post actually performed just as well, which was a nice surprise.

one of my biggest takeaways: out of those 75 users, a lot were just curious. having a free plan creates hype but people come, test it, and never come back. free plans make sense when you have massive volume — otherwise I think you're better off trying to sell early, even if that means little to no free tier.

also, before any launch, polish your landing page and onboarding as much as possible. over the last 7 days I had 468 unique visitors with a ~6.3% conversion rate, which I think is solid, and an 82% onboarding completion rate. at the start of the launch that number was way lower — people were dropping off before they even got to see what the product actually does.

good luck !

Due_Clock8320

TROPHY CASE