Weekly Review

Conduct a weekly review of project progress and plan for the upcoming week.

When to Use

• Every Monday (RA will prompt via /next)
• End of work week
• When feeling stuck or overwhelmed
• Before planning the next week

Execution Steps

1. Gather Context

Read these files:

• .research/project_telos.md – Current aims and phase
• .research/phase_checklist.md – Phase progress
• .research/logs/activity.md – This week’s activity
• .research/logs/weekly/ – Previous reviews
• tasks.md – Pending tasks
• Git log for the past week

2. Generate Weekly Review

# Weekly Review: [Week of DATE]

## What Happened This Week

### Accomplishments ✅
<!-- Auto-generated from git commits and activity.md -->
- [Accomplishment 1]
- [Accomplishment 2]
- [Accomplishment 3]

### Challenges Encountered
<!-- From context or ask user -->
- [Challenge 1]
- [Challenge 2]

### Time Spent
<!-- Estimate based on activity -->
- [Task category]: ~X hours
- [Task category]: ~X hours

## Project Health Check

### Phase Progress
- **Current Phase**: [PHASE]
- **Phase completion**: [X]% (based on checklist items)
- **On track?**: [Yes/No/At risk]

### Aims Status
| Aim | Status | Progress This Week |
|-----|--------|-------------------|
| Aim 1 | In progress | [Brief update] |
| Aim 2 | Not started | No change |

### Risks/Blockers
- [Current blockers from project_telos.md]

### Key Metrics
| Metric | Target | Actual | Status |
|--------|--------|--------|--------|
| Experiments/analyses completed | | | ✅/❌ |
| Scripts documented | | | ✅/❌ |
| Figures generated | | | ✅/❌ |
| Writing progress (words/sections) | | | ✅/❌ |
| Commits made | | | ✅/❌ |

## Patterns & Observations

### What Worked Well
- [Pattern to continue]

### What Could Improve
- [Area for improvement]

### Energy/Focus
<!-- Ask user or infer -->
- Peak productivity days: [Days]
- Challenging days: [Days]

## Looking Ahead

### Priorities for Next Week
1. [Top priority]
2. [Second priority]
3. [Third priority]

### Potential Blockers
- [Anticipated challenge]

### Questions to Resolve
- [Open question that needs answering]

---

*Review completed: [TIMESTAMP]*
*Next weekly review due: [DATE]*

3. Interactive Components

Ask the user:

Let's complete your weekly review. A few questions:

1. What are you most proud of accomplishing this week?
2. What was your biggest challenge or frustration?
3. Is there anything blocking your progress right now?
4. On a scale of 1-5, how focused did you feel this week?
5. What's the ONE thing that would make next week a success?

4. Save Review

Save to .research/logs/weekly/YYYY-MM-DD.md

5. Update Project State

• Update activity.md with review summary
• Flag any blockers in project_telos.md
• Update phase checklist if progress made

6. Suggest Next Steps

Weekly review saved to .research/logs/weekly/[DATE].md

Based on your review, suggested next steps:

A) 🗓️ Plan next week's work
   Run /plan_week to create a focused plan

B) 🚧 Address blockers
   [Specific blocker] needs attention

C) 📝 Continue with [top priority]
   Ready to dive in?

What would you like to do?

Patterns to Watch For

Warning Signs

Flag if detected:

• No commits in >7 days
• Same blocker appearing multiple weeks
• Phase not progressing
• Declining focus scores
• Growing task backlog
• Motivation decline: Reduced engagement, avoidance behaviors
• Scope creep: Project expanding without planned adjustment

Recovery Strategies (When Off-Track)

If warning signs are present:

1. Stop and assess – Don’t just push harder; pause to understand
2. Identify root cause – Is it technical, motivational, unclear direction, or external?
3. Adjust scope/timeline – Be realistic, not optimistic
4. Communicate – Tell collaborators, PI, or stakeholders early
5. Document the decision – Write down what changed and why
6. Set clear checkpoints – Define how you’ll know if recovery is working

Positive Patterns

Celebrate:

• Consistent commits
• Phase progression
• Blockers resolved
• Completed aims

Related Skills

• plan-week – Create detailed weekly plan
• monthly-review – Zoom out for monthly perspective
• next – Get next suggestion

Notes

• Keep reviews brief (15-20 minutes)
• Honesty > perfection
• Patterns emerge over time – review past weeks
• Celebrate progress, no matter how small