Productivity Tips #4: Weekly Review

This is the fourth in a series of tips looking at productivity. These tips reflect some of the practises which I use to stay on track. They are ideas that I have shared with clients in my coaching practise regularly. I said at the beginning of this series that there would be eight tips, but I am now planning a bonus ninth tip too!

Once completed I will be producing an expanded version of the series as a booklet, which will be available in a few months. Today’s topic is:

Weekly Review

This process is beautifully described by David Allen in his book “Getting Things Done“. If you haven’t read this book, and are struggling with your productivity and overall effectiveness I strongly recommend that you read it. It’s a classic, recently released as a second edition updated for the digital age! It breaks down the components of productivity into simple manageable processes.

For the weekly review, David Allen suggests that we complete this at a regular time each week. I always do mine on a Friday afternoon before I finish for the weekend. I have a series of prompts (adapted from David Allen) that I use to steer me through the process which typically takes up to half an hour depending on how out of control things have become through the week.

The important thing with this process is that it gets everything into a trusty system and out of the memory. There is no use trying to hold things in our head and remember all that we need to do. Our minds are not designed to do this. It just leads to stress and a chaotic approach if we do. So, the principle is that everything should be kept in a task system (it could be a simple as a list, or a more sophisticated task management app – I use “Remember the Milk“). Knowing that everything is in the system and can be found enables us to get stuff done without worrying about what we have forgotten.

The checklist for the weekly review that I use covers the following:

Loose papers – I pull together anything that needs turning into an action, and scraps of paper, notes or ideas and turn them into clear actions.

Process your notes – in my notes, which I keep in journal books, I make sure that I clearly identify any actions with an asterisk in a circle (*). During this stage of the weekly review I go through all my notes from the previous week capturing these tasks and adding them to my task list.

Review previous calendar data – I look back over the last couple of weeks to see if there is anything I need to do that I may not have added to my task list.

Review Upcoming Calendar – a two week forward look for anything that needs capturing in tasks, preparation for a meeting for example, travel arrangements etc.

Empty Your Head – this is a five minute space in which to check for anything that’s been hanging around in my memory and needs capturing now. This could be something random, an errand that needs running, something I have been meaning to do for ages. The important thing is to capture it, decide what needs doing and when to do it.

Review Action Lists including Action Email folders – in this section I am looking through the task lists, deciding the best time to do things, balancing out each day so that there is not too much to do. I am also looking through flagged emails to make sure that I have captured tasks from them.

Review Waiting-For List – including Pocket – this review process is focused on things that I am waiting for from others. A key tool for this is my email sent folder, which I review going back up to a month to look for emails that I haven’t had a reply to and may need to send a reminder. I also use a simple app called Pocket to save things for reading later that I come across when web browsing. I review this to look for things that I need to make sure that I read.

Review Project (and Larger Outcome) Lists – a quick review of the key projects I am working on to see if there are any tasks that I need to do on them. I mentioned the project list in the first tip in this series.

Review Any Relevant Checklists – I have various checklists that I use which I review at this point to make sure that I have captured absolutely everything.

Review Someday / Maybe List – some things that I would like to do are not time-specific. They sit in my system without a due date on them. They may not be urgent, and are ideas that I would like to initiate at some point in the future. I do a quick review of this list each week to see if there are any things on it that I am now ready to do and should therefore move to a due date.

Be Creative & Courageous – and finally, I have a little time to think whether there is anything that I really want to step up to and do this week that will really move things forwards.

That’s it! The Weekly Review. The version I have given here is very much based on David Allen’s approach, with tweaks to fit the way that I work. The important thing is to be consistent as it is a space in the week to get things organised and gain perspective.