2025 Retrospective and 2026 Plans
A year in review, and the rules I'm taking forward
The year of yes
2025 was the year I made myself to step out of my comfort zone. I said yes to things that scared me a little.
I recorded my first podcast. I spoke at three conferences: Startup Disrupt, IBM Put AI to Work, and Data Day. At Data Day I talked about AI, protocols, and some of the architectural flaws people do not realize. Two ideas resonated the most:
LLMs should not execute plans.
LLMs should not transfer data.
I posted more on LinkedIn, and the feed grew from around 800 to 2k followers. I restarted blogging (I talk about the motivation in Writing Is How I Think).
At work, I leaned further into the CTO role. Less heads-down building. More representing the company, more decisions for the team, more standing in front of rooms.
At home, first skiing with our kiddo. Swimming classes. Safari. Boat trip.
What we actually built
Most of my time went into agentic systems (systems where an AI can use tools to actually do work, not just generate text) as part of a project for IBM Research. Some of what we shipped publicly:
BeeAI Framework crossed 3k stars.
Agent Stack was the answer to agentic infrastructure.
I built a couple of personal agentic systems.
AI Fridays. We meet and discuss practical AI with the team. Best ritual.
We rebranded Apoco (logo and site design by Jan Broz).
We moved to a new office. Pragovka Art District.
Forbes Czech wrote about us.
A friend of mine joined, helping us with business development.
The team represented our projects on stages in Boston, Amsterdam, Orlando, and Stockholm.
We did have some fun along the way.
One opinion I earned the right to say this year, after hearing the same question at every event: MCP (a popular standard for plugging tools into agents) will not save your project. Tailored integrations focused on precision are what deliver value. Do one thing well.
What I didn’t choose
Some things in 2025 were not yeses I made.
I lost loved ones. I think about them often. I like the way Mexico thinks about the dead: as long as someone remembers you, you still live. I find some comfort in it.
My brother moved out of Prague. We used to live five minutes apart. Now it’s several hours of driving, and I’m still adjusting.
Biking was the steady thing through all of it.
Slowing down on purpose
By the end of 2025 I had to slow down. Nothing broke. I could just feel the engine running hot.
Too much FOMO around AI. Too much pressure I was putting on myself. Too many 30-minute blocks on the calendar where nothing real could happen. Too much trying to be a perfectionist.
So I stopped. I traveled. I read more. I gave myself nights and weekends back. I did a lot of thinking that I had been putting off.
What I noticed when I slowed down:
I had neglected the team a bit. Stepping back to give them more freedom was the right call, but I let some of the leadership work slip.
The deep work had moved to the edges of the week.
The reading and thinking I needed had nowhere to land.
You have to slow down to run again. That’s the lesson I’m taking out of the year.
Rules for 2026
Not a wishlist. A small set of rules.
Deep work
No news in the morning. No social feeds (I can post, I consume through my own curated feed).
Read 30 minutes before bed.
One protected weekly block to build agentic systems.
Public work
Write once a month, even if it’s short. Write for yourself.
One podcast per quarter.
One uncomfortable yes per month.
CTO and team
Share direction per quarter. Where we’re going, why, what success looks like.
Put 1:1s back.
One priority per week, done first. Drucker is right.
Quarterly time audit. Time is life, no refill.
Continue AI Fridays.
Personal
Take a whole month off.
Keep biking, 3 rides a week. Bike with kiddo. Print a map and explore together.
Surprise my wife once a quarter.
Celebrate. Wins, milestones, small ones too.
And one outcome I want: build one big thing that gets used by real users. Something to be proud of.