Knowledge Review and the Weekly Review

Build the mental model

A task system and a knowledge base both quietly rot without regular maintenance. Left alone, an inbox never empties and the whole system slowly turns into a junk drawer nobody trusts.

Regular review is what prevents that decay from happening in the first place.

• Clear the inbox down to zero
• Review active projects and confirm each has a next task
• Review the full task list and update anything stale
• Review the coming week's calendar for conflicts
• Review recent notes and connect or file anything loose
• Update priorities based on what actually happened
• Archive anything no longer relevant
• Plan the week ahead with realistic time blocks

A monthly review zooms out further, checking whether entire projects or areas still matter and whether the system's overall structure still fits how you actually work.

The mental model repeats the task management cycle at a slower rhythm: capture continuously through the week, then review, prioritize, plan, and execute weekly.

WEEKLY REVIEW CYCLE
-------------------
CAPTURE (all week) -> REVIEW -> PRIORITIZE -> PLAN -> EXECUTE
      ^                                                  |
      +--------------------------------------------------+
              (repeats every week)

Connect it to a real scenario

Block a fixed, recurring time for your weekly review, such as Friday afternoon or Sunday evening, and treat it as seriously as any other real commitment.

Work through the same order every time so the habit builds automatically: clear the inbox first, since everything downstream depends on it being empty.

Update priorities honestly based on what actually happened this week, not what you hoped would happen. Archive anything no longer relevant.

Finish by planning next week's rough shape: two or three real priorities and their time blocks. Keep the whole session under thirty minutes.

• Without regular review, both task systems and knowledge bases quietly turn into clutter nobody trusts.
• A weekly review follows a fixed order: inbox, projects, tasks, calendar, notes, priorities, archive, plan.
• Archive, update, delete, or connect are the four actions that keep a system honest over time.

Weekly Review Checklist

• Clear the inbox
• Review projects
• Review tasks
• Review calendar
• Review notes
• Update priorities
• Archive irrelevant items
• Plan next week

Try the working example

function runWeeklyReview(items) {
  const tally = { archived: 0, updated: 0, keptAsIs: 0 };
  const actions = items.map(item => {
    let action;
    if (item.status === "irrelevant") {
      action = "archived";
    } else if (item.status === "needs-review") {
      action = "updated";
    } else {
      action = "keptAsIs";
    }
    tally[action]++;
    return { name: item.name, action };
  });
  return { actions, tally };
}

const items = [
  { name: "Website launch project", status: "needs-review" },
  { name: "Old client from 2023", status: "irrelevant" },
  { name: "Weekly finances area", status: "up-to-date" },
  { name: "Draft blog post", status: "needs-review" },
  { name: "Cancelled conference notes", status: "irrelevant" }
];

const result = runWeeklyReview(items);
result.actions.forEach(a => console.log(`${a.name} -> ${a.action}`));
console.log("Tally:", result.tally);

Website launch project -> updated
Old client from 2023 -> archived
Weekly finances area -> keptAsIs
Draft blog post -> updated
Cancelled conference notes -> archived
Tally: { archived: 2, updated: 2, keptAsIs: 1 }

Personal information management overview — Productivity Systems