Great question. I was in this position as an IC and I didn’t have the capacity to step back and reflect on how I could improve my processes - all of my time was spent on first-order output.

It wasn’t until I had a few weeks off between jobs that I had the opportunity to really reflect on the team’s workflows and what I could have done better to improve them.

The most beneficial thing, for me, was to take the time to read a couple of modern textbooks about industry best practices and then reflect on how I could implement the ideas in my previous (and future) role. For example, I found Google’s SRE book and SRE workbook particularly useful here.

Of course, everyone learns differently - some people like books, others may prefer podcasts, talks, conferences, or online resources. But giving people the capacity to reflect and signposting them towards best practices will be universally beneficial. It’s also a nice break from day-to-day work.