Without a clear iteration objective, learning is a search for hope.
Individual development plans are given to improve productivity at work. At my last job, IDPs were 20% of the KPI structure, the rest was task performance.
A common pattern: read a book, study a course. The hope is that somewhere in the process, something useful surfaces.
These activities aren’t curated for a specific outcome.
A better approach: look at the patterns in our day-to-day work and projects. Find what takes the most time, consume the most energy, discover what would open more opportunity in the organization. Set that as the goal, then find the way to get there.
The method can change. The side project can fail. Drop it or continue, we are one iteration less from the objective.