Periodic Review

periodic-review

Core Philosophy

Personal and professional systems decay into chaotic reactive firefighting without intentional, structured retrospectives. A periodic review is not a guilt-ridden audit of uncompleted tasks; it is a strategic recalibration loop designed to align daily actions with long-term objectives, purge zombie commitments, and protect cognitive runway. By nesting reviews across Weekly, Monthly, and Annual cadences, you maintain clarity while minimizing administrative overhead.

3-Tier Nested Review System

Tier 1: The Weekly Tactical Calibration (45 Minutes)

• Cadence: Every Friday afternoon or Sunday evening.
• Step 1: Get Clear (Inbox Zero):
  • Empty physical notebook notes, download folders, browser tabs, and Slack/email starred messages into backlog.
  • Reconcile calendar: Review the past 7 days for unlogged commitments and review next 7 days for meeting preparation.
• Step 2: Get Current (Project Health Check):
  • Open active project list. For each project, ensure there is exactly one concrete next physical action defined.
  • Review waiting-for list: Follow up on blocked items or delegated tasks.
• Step 3: Get Focused (Rule of 3):
  • Define the Top 3 Non-Negotiable Outcomes for the upcoming week.
  • Schedule dedicated deep work blocks on the calendar for those 3 outcomes before meetings claim the space.

Tier 2: The Monthly Strategic Pulse (90 Minutes)

• Cadence: Last weekend of every month.
• Step 1: Goal & Metric Audit:
  • Review Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR), personal net savings rate, and physical health benchmarks.
  • Assess OKR/milestone progress: Are projects on track, delayed, or dead?
• Step 2: The "Hell Yeah or No" Cull:
  • Audit open commitments: Identify projects that have lingered for $> 30$ days without progress.
  • Ruthlessly apply Derek Sivers' rule: If a project does not elicit a "Hell Yeah!", formally kill it or archive it to "Someday/Maybe".
• Step 3: Financial & Subscription Sweep:
  • Scan bank/credit card statements for recurring SaaS or lifestyle subscriptions that provided zero value in the last 30 days. Cancel immediately.

Tier 3: The Annual Life Architecture Review (Half-Day)

• Cadence: Late December or early January.
• Step 1: Past Year Energy Audit:
  • Walk through the entire past calendar month-by-month.
  • Categorize events/people into:
    • Energy Drivers: Activities and relationships that generated profound joy, energy, and growth.
    • Energy Drains: Obligations, toxic relationships, and friction points that depleted reserves.
• Step 2: The 8-Pillar Wheel of Life Assessment:
  • Score each dimension from 1–10: Career/Craft, Finances, Physical Health, Relationships, Intellectual Growth, Environment/Home, Play/Creativity, Mental/Spiritual Health.
• Step 3: Theme & Constraint Formulation:
  • Set 1 overarching theme word for the year (e.g., "Consolidation", "Focus", "Expansion").
  • Formulate 3–5 high-leverage annual objectives paired with explicit anti-goals (what you will deliberately not do).

Deliverable Format: Periodic Review Template (PERIODIC-REVIEW.md)

# Periodic Review Framework & Log

## 1. Weekly Review Template (Run Every [Friday/Sunday])
### Get Clear
- [ ] Digital inboxes cleared (Email, Slack, Desktop, Downloads).
- [ ] Past week calendar audited; uncompleted follow-ups captured.
- [ ] Upcoming week schedule reviewed; deep work blocks locked.

### Get Current
- [ ] Project list audited: Every active project has a clear next action.
- [ ] Blocked/Waiting-for list reviewed and nudges sent.

### Top 3 Priorities for Next Week
1. [Priority 1 - High Leverage]
2. [Priority 2]
3. [Priority 3]

---

## 2. Monthly Review Dashboard: [Month, Year]
- **Net Revenue / Savings Progress**: [$X vs target]
- **Major Milestone Delivered**: [Key win]
- **Projects Killed / Archived**: [List of purged zombie projects]
- **Subscriptions Cancelled**: [Tools removed]
- **Focus Area for Next Month**: [Core strategic theme]

---

## 3. Annual Retrospective & Anti-Goals
- **Year Theme**: [e.g. "Ruthless Execution"]
- **Top 3 Energy Drivers (Do More)**: [Driver 1, Driver 2, Driver 3]
- **Top 3 Energy Drains (Eliminate)**: [Drain 1, Drain 2, Drain 3]
- **Explicit Anti-Goals**:
  - Will not accept unpaid speaking gigs requiring travel.
  - Will not start new projects until existing flagship product hits target ARR.

Worked Example: Engineering Leader Weekly Calibration

• Inbox Sweep: Processed 14 saved Slack messages into 3 Linear tickets and 1 personal calendar reminder.
• Project Calibration: Realized the "New Personal Website" project was stalled for 3 weeks; downgraded it to "Someday/Maybe" to preserve focus on shipping the core open-source library.
• Top 3 Scheduled:
  1. Finalize v3 API migration documentation (Blocked 3 hours Monday morning).
  2. Run quarterly performance reviews for 4 direct reports (Blocked Tuesday).
  3. Merge PR #142 fixing distributed trace latency (Blocked Wednesday).
• Outcome: 100% of top 3 delivered; zero panic weekend catch-up work needed.

Verification Checklist

• Weekly review takes $\le 45$ minutes and occurs on a fixed calendar cadence.
• Every active project has exactly one unambiguous, physical next action.
• Top 3 outcomes for the coming week are explicitly scheduled on the calendar.
• Monthly review includes killing or archiving at least one stagnant project.
• Annual review includes explicit anti-goals to prevent commitment creep.

Anti-Patterns

• The Bureaucratic Review: Spending 4 hours writing elaborate retrospective essays instead of doing the actual work.
• Zombie Project Accumulation: Keeping 30 projects on the "Active" list when you only have bandwidth for 3.
• Skipping during Crises: Abandoning the review during high-stress weeks when the review is needed most.