What’s inside
- Clear (10 min) — inboxes, notes, desktop, photos of whiteboards. Everything into one list.
- Look back (5 min) — what got done, what slipped, how your estimates compared.
- Look ahead (10 min) — calendar for the next two weeks, deadlines, prep you need.
- Decide (5 min) — three outcomes for next week, and what you are saying no to.
The review is a ritual borrowed from David Allen’s Getting Things Done; this version is trimmed to fit 30 minutes. For the why, read the weekly review guide.
When to use it (and when not)
Use it at the same time each week. Friday afternoon works well because the week is fresh; Sunday evening works if you prefer to start clean. Book it as a recurring event.
If your work runs on two-week sprints with a team retro, keep this as your personal review and keep it short. Do not use it to plan every task — that is the weekly planner’s job, and it takes less time once the review is done.
How to use it
- Set a 30-minute timer. Stopping on time matters more than finishing every box.
- Clear: process each inbox to zero flags. Turn anything actionable into a task with an estimate.
- Look back: list three wins and anything that slipped twice. Slipped twice means: drop it, shrink it, or book it.
- Look ahead: scan the next 14 days. Add prep tasks for big events — a presentation needs slides, a trip needs packing.
- Decide: write three outcomes for next week and one thing you will not do.
- Close: note one change to how you work, and stop.
How Needt fills it in
Needt shortens the first three steps. The agent can give you the look-back in one answer:
What did I finish this week, what’s overdue, and what moved more than once?
Email you flagged can become tasks directly. Your connected calendars show the next 14 days next to scheduled tasks, so prep gaps are visible. When you add prep tasks with estimates and deadlines, auto-scheduling places them before the events they serve. Keep the review itself as a Doc you copy each week, and the three outcomes in its first lines.
A worked example
Alex, Friday Oct 16, 16:00–16:30.
- Wins: homepage copy approved; both invoices sent; Spanish unit 4 done.
- Slipped twice: “update shop listings” — shrunk to the five best-sellers, 45 minutes, Monday.
- Next 14 days: Lumen review call Oct 27 needs a wireframe; shoot Oct 22 needs props.
- Next week’s outcomes: wireframe sent to Lumen; shoot prep done; October newsletter drafted.
- Not doing: redesigning the shop logo.
