brainAlly Quick Start
- Run
/weekly-reviewon Friday afternoon (best time) or Monday morning - I will scan your workspace: weekly plans, daily plans, PRDs, meeting notes, decisions, and launches from the past 7 days
- I will generate a focused review comparing plan vs. actual, surfacing key wins, blockers, and learnings
- Output goes to
outputs/weekly-reviews/YYYY-WXX-weekly-review.md - After the review, I will suggest running
/weekly-planto plan next week
Default output is focused (~150 lines max). Say "full review" if you want the expanded version with stakeholder pulse, task-level execution metrics, and pattern analysis.
Purpose
End-of-week synthesis reviewing what you accomplished, what you learned, and what needs attention. Feeds into next week's planning and builds institutional memory.
Usage
/weekly-review- Review current/past week/weekly-review last-week- Review previous week (if you forgot)
Context Routing
Check these files first:
outputs/weekly-plans/- This week's plan (what you intended)outputs/daily-plans/- Daily plans from this week (what actually happened)outputs/prds/- PRDs modified this weekoutputs/meeting-notes/- Meeting notes from past 7 daysbrain/ingestion/adhoc/- Launches that happened this weekbrain/decisions/- Decisions made this weekoutputs/research-synthesis/- Research conductedbrain/knowledge/- Quarter goals (to track progress)
MCP Queries (if available):
- Linear/Jira MCP - Tasks completed this week
- Analytics MCP - Metrics for features launched recently
- GitHub MCP - Code activity (if relevant to your role)
- Slack MCP - Key conversations and decisions
Fallback: File-based analysis of PM OS workspace + manual input for completions.
Workflow
Step 1: Determine Review Period
Calculate week to review:
- Default: Current week (if Friday or later)
- If Monday-Thursday: Ask "Review last week or current week?"
- If user specified: Use that week
Check if review already exists:
- Look for
outputs/weekly-reviews/YYYY-WXX-weekly-review.md - If exists: Ask "Update existing review or create new version?"
- Look for
Step 2: Data Collection
A. Weekly Plan (What Was Intended):
Read outputs/weekly-plans/YYYY-WXX-weekly-plan.md:
Extract:
- Top 3 priorities for the week
- Key tasks under each priority
- Success criteria
- Expected meeting load
If no weekly plan exists:
- Note: "Week wasn't planned. Reviewing what happened only."
- Suggest: "Next week, run
/weekly-planon Monday for better focus."
B. PRD Progress:
Scan outputs/prds/ and brain/knowledge/product/features/:
Method 1 - File modification dates:
# Files modified in the past 7 days
find outputs/prds/ brain/knowledge/product/features/ -name "*.md" -mtime -7
For each PRD touched this week:
- Read frontmatter or first section for current stage
- Compare to last week's stage (if weekly review from last week exists)
- Determine: Advanced, Stalled, or New
Method 2 - Only if version_control: on (git available — see CLAUDE.md § Environment & Capabilities / .pm-os-env.json). When git is off, skip this method and rely on Method 1 above; do not run git.
# PRDs with commits this week
git log --since="7 days ago" --name-only --pretty=format: | grep -E "prds/.*\.md$" | sort -u
Categorize:
- Advanced: Moved to next stage (Team Kickoff → Planning Review)
- Active: Work happened but didn't advance stage
- Stalled: No activity this week
- New: Started this week
C. Feature Launches:
Check brain/ingestion/adhoc/:
- Launches completed this week
- Launch checklists finished
- Post-launch monitoring started
For each launch: If Analytics MCP available:
Query metrics since launch date
Compare to success criteria from PRD
Categorize:
- ✅ On track (meeting targets)
- ⚠️ Needs attention (below targets)
- ❌ Underperforming (significantly below)
- 🚀 Exceeding (beating targets)
D. Meetings & Decisions:
Scan outputs/meeting-notes/ from past 7 days:
For each meeting:
- Extract date, attendees, topic
- Look for: Decisions made, action items created, blockers identified
Check brain/decisions/:
- Decision docs created this week
- Link to related meetings
Build stakeholder pulse:
- Who did you meet with most? (frequency)
- Who did you miss syncing with? (gaps)
- What topics dominated discussions? (themes)
E. Tasks Completed:
If Linear/Jira MCP available:
Query: Tasks completed in past 7 days
Group by: Priority, PRD/Initiative
Calculate: Planned vs actual completion rate
If MCP not available:
- Scan daily plans for checked-off tasks
- Scan meeting notes for completed action items
Categorize by initiative:
Initiative: [PRD Name]
- ✅ Task 1 (from Priority 1)
- ✅ Task 2 (from Priority 1)
- [ ] Task 3 (carried over - why?)
Calculate metrics:
- Tasks completed vs planned
- % completion rate
- Carry-over rate
F. User Research & Insights:
Check brain/ingestion/interviews/:
- New interview notes this week
- Competitive analysis updates
Check outputs/research-synthesis/:
- Synthesis reports created
- Themes identified
Extract:
- Key findings
- Recurring themes (mentioned in multiple sources)
- Recommendations for roadmap
G. Learnings & Patterns:
This is where weekly review gets powerful - surfacing patterns.
From daily plans:
- What consistently took longer than expected?
- What got deprioritized every day? (maybe not important)
- What meeting prep was valuable vs not?
From outcomes:
- What decisions went well? (process to repeat)
- What decisions went poorly? (what to change)
- What blockers kept recurring? (systemic issue)
From stakeholder interactions:
- What communication worked well?
- What caused confusion or misalignment?
- Who needs more/less frequent updates?
Step 3: Analysis & Synthesis
PRD Pipeline Analysis:
For each PRD:
- Last week's stage → This week's stage
- Movement: ✅ Advanced / → Active / ⚠️ Stalled
Why analysis:
- Advanced: What unblocked it? (repeat this)
- Stalled: What's blocking? (action needed)
Strategic Alignment:
Read brain/knowledge/ for quarter goals.
For each goal:
- Which priorities/tasks contributed to it this week?
- Progress estimate: X% → Y% (did we move the needle?)
- Velocity: Are we on track for quarter target?
Pillar balance: If strategy has defined pillars:
- Pillar 1: X% of time this week
- Pillar 2: Y% of time
- Pillar 3: Z% of time
Compare to target allocation: Are we balanced?
Pattern Detection:
Look for:
- Recurring blockers: Same dependency/person blocked multiple things
- Underestimated tasks: Consistently took 2x longer than planned
- Overcommitted weeks: Planned 30 hours with 25 hours of meetings
- Meeting value: Which meetings led to outcomes vs were FYI only?
- Best working times: When did deep work happen? (protect these blocks)
Step 4: Generate Weekly Review
Create file: outputs/weekly-reviews/YYYY-WXX-weekly-review.md
Output Length Guidance:
Default (focused review, ~150 lines max). Include only:
- TL;DR (5-6 bullet summary)
- Priority Completion (plan vs actual for top 3 priorities)
- Key Decisions Made (list with one-line rationale each)
- Metrics Movement (table of metrics that changed)
- Top 3 Learnings (what worked, what did not, what to change)
- Next Week Preview (draft priorities + items to unblock)
Full review (when user asks for it). Expand to also include:
- Stakeholder pulse (engagement gaps, new relationships)
- Task-level execution metrics (completion rate, carry-over rate, scope creep indicator)
- PRD pipeline table with stage movement
- Meeting value assessment (high/medium/low for each meeting)
- Pattern analysis (recurring blockers, underestimated task types, best working times)
- User research and competitive intelligence updates
Template:
---
week: YYYY-WXX
week_start: YYYY-MM-DD
week_end: YYYY-MM-DD
quarter: Q[X] YYYY
---
# Weekly Review - Week of [Month] [DD], [YYYY]
## TL;DR
- **PRDs:** [X active], [Y advanced], [Z stalled]
- **Launches:** [N features shipped]
- **Meetings:** [M total], [P key decisions]
- **Completion rate:** [X%] of planned tasks done
- **Key win:** [Biggest accomplishment]
- **Key challenge:** [Biggest blocker/lesson]
---
## Strategic Progress
**Quarter Goal:** [Primary goal for Q]
**Progress This Week:** [What moved forward]
| Goal | Start of Week | End of Week | This Week | Status |
|------|---------------|-------------|-----------|--------|
| [Goal 1] | X% | Y% | +Z% | ✅ On track |
| [Goal 2] | A% | B% | +C% | ⚠️ Behind |
**Velocity check:**
- [X] weeks left in quarter
- [Y%] progress needed per week to hit goal
- [Z%] actual progress this week
- **Assessment:** [On track / Need to accelerate / Ahead]
---
## Top 3 Priorities Review
[Compare planned vs actual]
### Priority 1: [Title]
**Planned:** [What we intended to achieve]
**Actual:** [What we achieved]
**Tasks:**
- ✅ [Task 1] - Done
- ✅ [Task 2] - Done
- [ ] [Task 3] - Carried over because [reason]
**Status:** ✅ Complete / 🟡 Partial / ❌ Not started
**Key outcome:**
- [What this unlocked or enabled]
**Learning:**
- [What went well or what to change]
---
### Priority 2: [Title]
[Same structure]
---
### Priority 3: [Title]
[Same structure]
---
## PRD Pipeline
| PRD | Stage (Start of Week) | Stage (End of Week) | Movement | Next Action |
|-----|----------------------|---------------------|----------|-------------|
| [Name] | Team Kickoff | Planning Review | ✅ Advanced | Get eng estimates |
| [Name] | Solution Review | Solution Review | ⚠️ Stalled | Need legal review |
| [Name] | - | Team Kickoff | 🆕 New | Scope and plan |
**Analysis:**
- **Advanced:** [PRD X] moved forward because [stakeholder signed off / design done / etc.]
- **Stalled:** [PRD Y] blocked on [dependency / decision / resource]
- **Recommendation:** [What to prioritize next week to unblock]
---
## Launches & Impact
### Shipped This Week
[If anything launched]
**[Feature Name]** (Launched [Day])
**Success Criteria (from PRD):**
- [Metric 1]: Target [X], Actual [Y] ([+/-Z%])
- [Metric 2]: Target [A], Actual [B] ([+/-C%])
**Early assessment:** ✅ On track / ⚠️ Needs attention / ❌ Below target / 🚀 Exceeding
**Insights:**
- [User feedback received]
- [Unexpected behavior observed]
- [Next iteration needed]
---
### Post-Launch Monitoring
[Features launched in past 4 weeks still being monitored]
| Feature | Launch Date | Key Metric | Target | Actual | Trend | Status |
|---------|-------------|------------|--------|--------|-------|--------|
| [Name] | [Date] | [Metric] | [X] | [Y] | [↗↘→] | [✅⚠️❌] |
---
## Key Decisions Made
1. **[Decision]** ([Date] - [Meeting])
- **Context:** [Why this came up]
- **Decision:** [What was decided]
- **Rationale:** [Why we chose this]
- **Owner:** [Who's executing]
- **Impact:** [What this affects]
- **Doc:** [Link if exists]
2. **[Decision 2]**
[Same structure]
---
## Meetings & Stakeholder Pulse
### Meetings This Week: [Total]
| Day | Meeting | Attendees | Outcome | Value |
|-----|---------|-----------|---------|-------|
| Mon | [Topic] | [Names] | [Decision/Alignment] | 🟢 High |
| Tue | [Topic] | [Names] | [Info sharing] | 🟡 Medium |
| Wed | [Topic] | [Names] | [Cancelled] | ⚫ None |
**Meeting load:** [X] hours / 40 = [Y%]
**Deep work time:** [Z] hours (vs [A] hours planned)
**Value assessment:**
- 🟢 High value: Led to decision or unblocked work
- 🟡 Medium value: Useful context but no immediate action
- 🔴 Low value: Could have been async or skipped
**Recommendation:** [Which meetings to keep/change/cancel]
---
### Stakeholder Pulse
**High engagement this week:**
- **[Name]** - [Why: Multiple syncs, key decision, strong collaboration]
- Impact: [What this enabled]
- Continue: [Keep this cadence / Increase collaboration]
**Needs attention:**
- **[Name]** - [Why: Haven't synced in 2+ weeks, blocking issue, misalignment suspected]
- Impact: [What's at risk]
- Action: [Specific next step - schedule 1:1, send update, etc.]
**New relationships:**
- **[Name]** - [Met for first time, context]
- Follow-up: [Add to stakeholder profiles, schedule regular sync]
---
## User Research & Insights
[Only include if research happened]
**New Research This Week:**
- **[Interview/Study]** - [Date]
- Key finding: [Insight]
- Validates: [Which hypothesis or PRD]
- Challenges: [What assumption or approach]
**Recurring Themes:**
- **[Theme 1]** - Mentioned in [X] sources
- Evidence: [Quote or data point]
- Implication: [What this means for roadmap]
- **[Theme 2]** - Validates hypothesis from [PRD]
- Evidence: [Quote or data point]
- Recommendation: [Accelerate this PRD / Pivot approach]
**Competitive Intelligence:**
[If competitive analysis updated]
- [Competitor] launched [Feature]
- Implication: [How this affects our strategy]
---
## Tasks & Execution
**Completion Metrics:**
- **Completed:** [X] tasks
- **Carried over:** [Y] tasks ([Z%] carry-over rate)
- **Added mid-week:** [A] tasks (scope creep indicator)
**By initiative:**
### [Initiative/PRD Name]
- ✅ [Task completed]
- ✅ [Task completed]
- [ ] [Task carried over] - **Why:** [Blocked by X / Deprioritized for Y / Under-estimated]
### [Initiative 2]
[Same structure]
**Patterns:**
- Tasks that took longer than expected: [Type/category]
- Blockers that repeated: [Dependency on X person/team]
- Tasks that got bumped repeatedly: [Maybe not actually important?]
---
## Learnings & Patterns
**What Worked Well:**
- **[Approach/Decision]** - [Why it was effective]
- Example: [Specific instance]
- Repeat: [How to apply this pattern again]
**What Didn't Work:**
- **[Mistake/Inefficiency]** - [What happened]
- Impact: [Consequence]
- Root cause: [Why this happened]
- Fix: [Specific change for next time]
**Process Improvements:**
- [ ] [Specific improvement to implement]
- Why: [Problem it solves]
- How: [Concrete action]
- Owner: You
- By when: [Next week / Next sprint]
**Personal Development:**
[If applicable]
- Skill practiced: [What you worked on]
- Feedback received: [From whom, about what]
- Growth area identified: [What to develop]
---
## Next Week Preview
### Top 3 Priorities (Draft)
[Based on this week's outcomes, suggest next week's priorities]
1. **[Priority 1]** - [Why: Carries over from this week / New urgent item / Strategic next step]
2. **[Priority 2]** - [Why]
3. **[Priority 3]** - [Why]
> Note: Run `/weekly-plan` to formalize these and add detail
---
### Key Meetings Next Week
[From calendar if available]
- **[Day]:** [Meeting] - [Goal/Outcome needed]
- **[Day]:** [Meeting] - [Prep needed]
---
### Items to Unblock
| Item | Blocked Since | Blocked By | Action Needed |
|------|---------------|------------|---------------|
| [PRD/Task] | [Date/Week] | [Person/Dependency/Decision] | [Specific ask] |
**Priority unblocks:**
1. [Most critical blocker to address Monday]
2. [Second priority]
---
## Metrics to Monitor Next Week
[Features to keep watching]
- **[Feature 1]** - [Why: Early launch / Trending down / Critical metric]
- Watch: [Specific metric]
- Check: [Daily / Every other day]
- Flag if: [Threshold or condition]
---
*Generated: [Timestamp]*
*Data sources: [Weekly plan, Daily plans, PRDs, Meeting notes, Linear/Jira, Analytics]*
*Next: Run `/weekly-plan` to plan next week*
Step 5: Follow-Up Prompts
After generating review, prompt user with contextual suggestions:
Always offer:
"Week synthesized and saved! Next steps:
- Plan next week? Run
/weekly-plan(5-10 min) - I've drafted initial priorities above- Share with team? I can format this as a stakeholder update
What would help?"
If significant wins:
"🎉 Nice work on [Achievement]! Worth documenting this:
- Add to portfolio/resume
- Share in team update
- Capture as case study for future reference
Want me to help with any of these?"
If patterns emerged:
"📊 I noticed some patterns:
- [Recurring blocker X] appeared [Y] times
- [Task type Z] consistently took 2x longer than estimated
Want to dig into these and create process improvements?"
If learnings captured:
"💡 This week's learnings worth remembering:
- [Learning 1]
- [Learning 2]
I'll surface these in future planning. Want me to add to
brain/ingestion/adhoc/lessons-learned.md?"
If metrics concerning:
"⚠️ [Feature] metrics need attention:
- [Metric] is [X%] below target
- Trending [down/flat] since launch
Run
/feature-resultsfor deeper analysis? Or schedule stakeholder review?"
Integration with Other Skills
Before /weekly-review:
/daily-plan- Ran throughout the week (provides daily context)/meeting-notes- Captured meeting outcomes/prd-draft- Created/updated PRDs this week
After /weekly-review:
/weekly-plan- Plan next week based on this review/decide- Document key decisions made/status-update- Share with stakeholders/feature-results- Deep dive on launched features
Parallel use:
/impact-sizing- Validate completed work had expected impact/competitor-analysis- If competitive intel emerged this week
Tips for Best Results
When to run:
- Best time: Friday afternoon (4-5pm)
- Week is fresh in memory
- Can plan next week immediately after
- Creates clean mental closure for weekend
- Alternative: Monday morning (reflect before planning)
- Avoid: Mid-week (incomplete picture)
What makes a good review:
- ✅ Honest about what didn't go well (not just wins)
- ✅ Specific about patterns (not vague "work harder")
- ✅ Actionable improvements (concrete next steps)
- ✅ Connects to strategy (not just task completion)
- ❌ Just a task list (misses the "why" and learnings)
- ❌ All problems, no wins (demotivating)
How to build the habit:
- Week 1-2: I'll prompt you Friday afternoon
- Week 3-4: You'll start expecting it (ritual forming)
- Week 5+: Feels incomplete without it
Use the output:
- Reference in 1:1s with manager (shows progress)
- Share with stakeholders (transparency)
- Compare month-over-month (velocity trends)
- Review quarterly (pattern detection across multiple weeks)
Related Skills
Before this:
/daily-plan- Daily execution throughout week/weekly-plan- Set priorities at start of week/meeting-notes- Captured throughout week
After this:
/weekly-plan- Plan next week immediately after review/status-update- Share summary with stakeholders/decide- Formalize key decisions made
Periodic use:
/feature-results- Monthly deep dive on launched features/quarter-review- (If exists) Quarterly synthesis of weekly reviews
Output Quality Self-Check
Before delivering the weekly review, verify:
- Plan vs. actual compared: If a weekly plan existed, every planned priority is addressed with a status (complete, partial, not started) and a reason for any gap.
- Learnings are specific and actionable: Each learning includes what happened, why, and a concrete change for next time. "Work harder" is not a learning.
- Next week priorities are drafted: At least 3 draft priorities for next week are suggested, grounded in this week's outcomes and strategic goals.
- Blockers have owners: Every unresolved blocker has a specific action and person to contact on Monday.
- Metrics referenced where available: If launches happened or metrics data exists, actual numbers are cited (not just "things went well").
- Appropriate length: Default review is ~150 lines. Full review is longer but still organized with clear section headers. Do not generate a full review unless the user asked for one.
- Honest about what did not go well: The review includes at least one thing that did not go as planned, with root cause analysis. A review with only wins is incomplete.