"Reviewing Projects and Areas of Responsibility" Phase 4

The Review, is one of the most important parts of achieving the goals of getting things done. To the left is what Tiago highlights as the importance of doing a weekly review. In reality, a review is something that is a good way to recollect yourself every week, this can help you to manage your loads week to week versus letting it pile up to the point of being stuck in a pit of open loops and we're back where you're unproductive self started. You'll never know what went wrong and where if you just keep going, slowing down to look back will help to gather a better understanding of your workflow and how in the future it can be improved.

So, how do you do your weekly review?
1. Gather and process all of your stuff, these are your open loops.
2. Update your containers.
3. Review your system
4. Get 'clean, clare, current and complete.'

It is suggested that the review checklists should become a part of routine, but should only take about 10-20 minutes.

Daily checklists consist of: collect, process, and do. 

Weekly review checklists consist of collect, review, organize. 

Monthly review checklists consist of review - allows you to focus on the bigger picture, and on long-term goals. 

Now, the challenge was to develop my own checklists - I used stickies (the app on Mac) to get my reviews going. It was recommended by Tiago, but who can go wrong electronic sticky notes? Personally, they have been a pick help for remember key information without having the hassle of logging into/opening other applications.

After using all three forms over the past month I'll be honest during the last 2 weeks of classes it has been hard to prioritize accordingly. My monthly review has short of being impressed, but this is a new habit that I am learning and it goes without saying that this is trial and error until I design a perfect workflow based on my needs. If you're looking for template on reviews, here's an excel file that allows you to visually convert your data into visual graphs - this way you can see if your new productive habits are working.

For daily: I used smaller and tangible goals which included clearing out my email inbox, cleaning up my desktop, adding direct action items as they appeared throughout the date, looking back on the open loops that I didn't jot down, and lastly looking back to see what open loops had to be dealt with. After 3 days, it started to become a habit for me - and I noticed that my anxiety associated with workloads started to ease of for a bit. The key is to deal with it (can be collecting, organizing, or doing) right away, versus letting it slide. The more I said to myself 'I'll do it later' the more I never did.

Use the below example to help form the weekly review checklist - the below is based on the suggestions made in David Allen's Getting Things Done: Weekly Review Booklet.



*updated April 21, to conclude reflection on the almost monthly review. 

Categories: Computer Science, Technology