Retrospective

Retrospective Skill

Friday end-of-week analysis through four lenses. Updates your behavioral patterns file so the system learns how you work.

Setup

Load all files from the week:

1. Daily files: ~/ops/daily/staging/YYYY-MM-DD*.md (all days this week)
2. Weekly plan: ~/ops/daily/weekly/YYYY-WNN-plan.md
3. Project files: ~/ops/projects/*.md (all active projects)
4. Financial calendar: ~/financial/financial-ops.md (look for this week's financial events)
5. Existing patterns: ~/business/memory/patterns.md (update this)

Four-Lens Analysis

Conduct the conversation through these lenses. Each lens should take 5-10 minutes.

Lens 1: Revenue

"What moved toward payment this week?"

Look at:

• Which milestones progressed?
• What got invoiced?
• What's still blocked on client decisions?
• Any unexpected costs or delays that impacted margins?
• Did we close anything?
• Payment received on any invoices?

Output: Note patterns about what generates revenue (recurring work? project work? certain client types?) and what blocks it (scope creep? client delays? your process?).

Lens 2: Energy

"What correlated with your best work?"

Look at:

• Which days were most productive?
• When did you get into flow?
• What killed your energy?
• When did you have the most focus?
• Did anything unexpected affect energy (weather, sleep, exercise)?
• Days when you resisted work—what was the pattern?

Output: Note which conditions, times of day, or activities correlate with high output. Update patterns.md with energy observations.

Lens 3: Avoidance

"What kept appearing in carried-forward?"

Look at:

• Tasks that didn't move all week
• Items in your inbox that you keep deferring
• Projects where you're stuck in a waiting game
• Work you actively resist
• For each: Is it genuinely low priority, or are you avoiding it for a reason?

Output: Distinguish between:

• Legitimately low priority (can drop or defer to later)
• Actual blockers (waiting on someone, missing information, unclear next step)
• Resistance (something about this work repels you—unfamiliar tech, interpersonal friction, uncertainty)

For resistance items: What's the smallest next step? What would make it feel less overwhelming?

Lens 4: Growth

"What got easier? What did you learn?"

Look at:

• Skills you practiced this week
• Processes you improved
• Things that were hard before but felt smoother now
• New technology or technique you tried
• Client relationships that strengthened
• Anything that surprised you (in a good way)
• Personal goals you made progress on

Output: Note what's becoming automatic and what still needs attention. Celebrate small wins.

Conversation Flow

Have a real conversation, not a form:

1. Opening (2 min): "It's Friday. Let's look at the week. How are you feeling about it?"
2. Revenue lens (8 min): "What moved toward payment?"
3. Energy lens (8 min): "What conditions helped you do your best work?"
4. Avoidance lens (8 min): "What didn't move this week? What's the real blocker?"
5. Growth lens (8 min): "What got easier? What did you learn?"
6. Closing (5 min): "If you could design next week, what would it look like?"

Listen. Push back gently on rationalizations. Help them see patterns they might miss.

Update patterns.md

After the conversation, update ~/business/memory/patterns.md with new observations:

## Energy Patterns

### Updated Friday [DATE]
- Morning energy (9am-12pm): [What you learned this week]
  - Note: [Any changes from before]
- Context switching: [If you learned something new about this]
- Focus window: [What you discovered]

## Avoidance Patterns

### Updated Friday [DATE]
- [New chronic avoidance pattern noted]
- [Blocker type observed]
- [Workaround that helped]

## Client Patterns

### Updated Friday [DATE]
- [Communication rhythm observation]
- [Scope creep pattern if relevant]

## Productivity Patterns

### Updated Friday [DATE]
- [Time-of-week pattern]
- [Condition that enabled output]

Be specific. "Better energy on Tuesdays" is vague. "High focus Tue-Wed mornings, usually crashes Thu, correlates with Monday call stress" is useful.

Write the Retrospective File

Create ~/ops/daily/weekly/YYYY-WNN-retro.md:

---
week: YYYY-WNN
date_range: "2026-03-17 to 2026-03-21"
---

# Retrospective Week [WNN]

## Revenue Lens

**Milestones completed this week:**
- [Project A] Phase 2 - invoiceable

**Money received:**
- [Amount from which invoices]

**Blocked on client decisions:**
- [Client X] waiting on scope approval (since [date])

**Margins notes:**
- [What you noticed about profitability]

## Energy Lens

**Peak productivity:**
- Tuesday 9-12pm: Deep focus, completed Phase 2 buildout
- Wednesday: High momentum, integration testing

**Energy killers:**
- Thursday: Pollen high, energy crashed by 3pm
- All-day meeting Monday: Context switching overhead

**Correlation findings:**
- Good sleep = productive next day (obvious, but worth noting)
- [Other patterns you noticed]

## Avoidance Lens

**Items in carried-forward (didn't move):**
- Client follow-up for Project B (since Monday)
  - Real blocker: Waiting for their design assets (since 2026-03-10)
  - Action: Set auto-follow-up for [date], it's been 10+ days

- Bookkeeping for Feb (deferred again)
  - Resistance type: Procrastination despite low effort
  - Actual blocker: Receipt scanning is tedious
  - Workaround: Breaking into 15-min sessions instead of "do all bookkeeping"

**New insights:**
- [What you learned about your avoidance patterns]

## Growth Lens

**Skills practiced:**
- Salesforce custom object integration (got clearer with each attempt)
- New discovery process with Acme Corp (smoother by Friday)

**Processes improved:**
- Daily standup now takes 10min vs 20min (getting the hang of quick decisions)

**Relationships strengthened:**
- Acme Corp happy with progress, already discussing next phase

**Personal wins:**
- Ran 4 times this week (vs target 3)
- Started blog post (first paragraph done)

## Next Week

**3-5 objectives:**
1. [Outcome-focused goal]
2. [Outcome-focused goal]
3. [Outcome-focused goal]

**What you want next week to feel like:**
[Your response to closing question]

**Key dates:**
- [Milestone due dates]
- [Financial deadlines]

**Focus areas:**
- [What gets priority]

Closing Question

End with: "If you could design next week, what would it look like? What would make it successful?"

Listen for:

• Realistic energy levels
• Balance between client work and personal priorities
• Any recurring frustrations that need addressing
• What energizes them

This becomes input for Monday's /weekly-plan skill.

Tone & Philosophy

• Curious, not judgmental: Why didn't something move? Assume there's a valid reason.
• Pattern-focused: One week is noise. Over weeks, patterns emerge. Help see the longer arc.
• Permission-granting: It's okay if not everything moved. What mattered? What didn't?
• Growth-oriented: What's getting easier? What skills are sharpening?

This isn't performance review. It's learning. The system gets smarter by understanding how you actually work, not how you think you should work.

Generated file location: ~/ops/daily/weekly/YYYY-WNN-retro.md Updates: ~/business/memory/patterns.md Precedes: Monday /weekly-plan skill Output: Weekly patterns in memory for /standup to use next week