Weekly Retrospective

Scans your past week's Done items, surfaces patterns, facilitates reflection, and captures one improvement action.

Philosophy

Jim Benson's Personal Kanban meets Plus/Delta simplicity. Automatic data gathering + facilitated reflection.

This closes the feedback loop:

win-the-day → task-clarity-scanner → retrospective
"What's coming"  →  "What's active"  →  "What happened"

Trigger Phrases

• "weekly review"
• "run retrospective"
• "what did I ship this week"
• "end of week review"
• "reflect on my week"

Daily Note Location

Ed's daily notes live at:

/Users/eddale/Documents/COPYobsidian/MAGI/Zettelkasten/YYYY-MM-DD.md

Each has a ## Done Today section with completed tasks.

---

The Flow

Step 1: Data Gathering (Automatic)

1a: Find the last 7 days of daily notes

Glob: /Users/eddale/Documents/COPYobsidian/MAGI/Zettelkasten/202*-*-*.md

Filter to files from the last 7 days (including today).

1b: Parse Done sections

For each daily note found:

• Read the file
• Extract items from ## Done Today section
• Count completed tasks (lines starting with - [x])
• Note notable completions (research, projects, shipped work)

1c: Check for rolling items

Look for tasks in ## Ready that appear across multiple days - these are items that never got done.

Step 2: Present Week Summary

Present findings in this format:

## This Week's Wins

**Total shipped:** [N] items across [M] days

### By Day
| Day | Date | Done |
|-----|------|------|
| Mon | 01-06 | 3 |
| Tue | 01-07 | 5 |
| Wed | 01-08 | 2 |
| Thu | 01-09 | 4 |
| Fri | 01-10 | 6 |
| Sat | 01-11 | 1 |
| Sun | 01-12 | 0 |

**Best day:** [Day] with [N] items

### Top Completions
- [Notable items - research docs, project milestones, shipped work]

### Still Rolling (optional)
- [Items that appeared in Ready all week but never completed]

Step 3: Reflection Questions

Use AskUserQuestion to prompt reflection. Present ONE question at a time, capture responses.

Question 1: Flow Check

What flowed easily this week? What gave you energy?

Options:

• Let them type freely
• Offer prompts: "Creative work", "Coaching calls", "Building", "Writing"

Question 2: Friction Check

Where did work get stuck? What drained energy?

Options:

• Let them type freely
• Offer prompts: "Admin tasks", "Unclear scope", "Interruptions", "Tech issues"

Question 3: Pattern Recognition

What kept showing up this week? Any recurring themes?

Options:

• Let them type freely

Question 4: One Change

What ONE thing will you do differently next week?

This is the most important question. Push for specificity:

• Bad: "Be more focused"
• Good: "Block 2 hours every morning for deep work"

Step 4: Save Retrospective

Create the retrospective document in Zettelkasten:

File: /Users/eddale/Documents/COPYobsidian/MAGI/Zettelkasten/Retrospective - YYYY-MM-DD.md

Template:

---
type: retrospective
date: YYYY-MM-DD
week-of: YYYY-MM-DD to YYYY-MM-DD
shipped: [N]
---

# Weekly Retrospective - [Date]

## This Week's Numbers

- **Shipped:** [N] items across [M] days
- **Best day:** [Day] ([N] items)
- **Days tracked:** [N] of 7

## Top Completions

- [Notable item 1]
- [Notable item 2]
- [Notable item 3]

## Reflections

### What Flowed
[Ed's response to Question 1]

### Where Work Got Stuck
[Ed's response to Question 2]

### Patterns
[Ed's response to Question 3]

### One Change for Next Week
> [Ed's response to Question 4]

## Someday-Maybe Review

- **Items in backlog:** [N]
- **Reactivated this week:** [Item(s) or "None"]

---

*Generated by retrospective skill*

Step 4b: Someday-Maybe Review

After saving the retrospective, review the Someday-Maybe backlog:

Read the file:

/Users/eddale/Documents/COPYobsidian/MAGI/Zettelkasten/Someday-Maybe.md

Present a quick summary:

## Someday-Maybe Check

**Items parked:** [N total across categories]
**Oldest item:** [Item] (parked MM-DD, [N] days ago)

### Quick Scan by Category
| Category | Items | Oldest |
|----------|-------|--------|
| BlackBelt | 3 | 01-07 |
| Skill Building | 12 | 01-07 |
| Newsletter | 1 | 01-16 |
| ... | ... | ... |

**Want to reactivate anything this week?**
1. Show me the full list
2. Suggest items based on current focus
3. Skip - nothing for now

If user selects "Suggest items":

• Look at their recent Done items and current Ready list
• Recommend 1-2 Someday-Maybe items that align with momentum
• Offer to move to next week's daily note

If user selects an item to reactivate:

1. Remove from Someday-Maybe.md
2. Add to today's daily note Ready section (or specified day)
3. Confirm: "Moved [item] back to Ready. Removed from Someday-Maybe."

---

Step 5: Link in Daily Note

After saving the retrospective doc:

1. Find today's daily note
2. Add to ## Captures section:

- [[Retrospective - YYYY-MM-DD]] - Weekly review ([N] shipped)

Use Edit tool to append to Captures section.

Step 6: Wrap Up

Confirm completion:

Retrospective saved to [[Retrospective - YYYY-MM-DD]]

Your one change for next week:
> [Their commitment]

See you next week.

---

Guidelines

1. Speed matters - This should take 10-15 minutes, not an hour
2. Don't force reflection - If they want to skip a question, let them
3. Push for specificity on "One Change" - Vague commitments don't stick
4. Celebrate wins - Start with what shipped, not what didn't
5. No judgment - Zero-output days happen, don't comment on them
6. Preserve the doc - The retrospective is a record, don't overwrite previous ones

Example Output

## This Week's Wins

**Total shipped:** 21 items across 6 days

### By Day
| Day | Date | Done |
|-----|------|------|
| Mon | 01-06 | 4 |
| Tue | 01-07 | 5 |
| Wed | 01-08 | 3 |
| Thu | 01-09 | 2 |
| Fri | 01-10 | 6 |
| Sat | 01-11 | 1 |

**Best day:** Friday with 6 items

### Top Completions
- Research Swarm - Retrospective Best Practices
- Newsletter article on AI coaching
- Shipped retrospective skill (meta!)

Ready for reflection questions?