The Getting Things Done (GTD) weekly review is often described as essential maintenance for your productivity system. You gather loose papers, process your inboxes, download your head, update your projects and review your calendar. This keeps your system current and trustworthy.
But the weekly review can do something deeper. It can help you notice when your understanding of a situation is no longer accurate.
Seen through Cynefin, the weekly review becomes a regular opportunity to notice what has changed and adapt our response.
Your lists are not the only things that become outdated
A project list can become stale when completed tasks remain on it or new actions have not been recorded.
Our assumptions can also become stale.
A task that appeared routine may have developed unexpected complications. A problem we thought needed expert analysis may now require a small experiment. A crisis may have stabilised enough for us to stop reacting and begin planning.
The work may look similar on our lists, but the nature of the situation has changed.
If we fail to notice that change, we may keep applying a response that no longer fits.
Review the situation, not only the system
Cynefin is a sense-making framework. It helps us understand the kind of situation we are facing so that we can respond appropriately.
This makes the weekly review a natural opportunity to ask:
- Has something routine become less predictable?
- Am I still analysing something that now requires experimentation?
- Has an emergency stabilised enough for a more considered response?
- Has an uncertain situation developed a pattern that I can build upon?
- Am I treating several different commitments as though they require the same approach?
- Does this project still make sense in its present form?
These questions move the weekly review beyond administrative housekeeping. They turn it into a regular practice of reconsidering what is happening.
Notice when the response no longer fits
Imagine that your car insurance is due for renewal.
At first, the project may seem straightforward: visit a comparison website, find a suitable policy and buy it.
But then you discover that the quotations are not directly comparable. They offer different excesses, exclusions and levels of cover. Some include breakdown assistance or legal protection, while others charge extra.
Continuing to compare headline prices may no longer help. What appeared to be a clear task has become complicated and requires more careful analysis or expert advice.
Your weekly review can help you recognise that shift and replace ‘Check another comparison website’ with a more appropriate next action:
Compare the excess, exclusions and included cover of the three best-value policies before choosing one.
Equally, once you understand the options, you can create a checklist that makes next year’s renewal simpler and more routine.
Sense-making includes noticing movement in both directions.
Add one question to your weekly review
You do not need to classify every task or project into a Cynefin domain.
Instead, add one simple question to your weekly review:
What has changed?
Then consider:
- What has become clearer?
- What has become more uncertain?
- Where am I making assumptions that are no longer supported?
- Which project needs a different kind of next action?
- What should I stop, start or reconsider?
The purpose is not to diagnose every situation perfectly. It is to notice when your current response no longer matches reality.
A trusted productivity system should reflect more than what you have agreed to do. It should also reflect your best current understanding of the world in which you are doing it.
The weekly review is not merely a chance to bring your lists up to date. It is a chance to bring your thinking up to date too.
Photo by Juan Davila on Unsplash
