GTD Review Skill

Facilitate the weekly review process to keep your GTD system current and maintain perspective.

Vault Operations

Use the /obsidian skill for all vault reads and writes. Load it before running any commands: → .claude/skills/obsidian/SKILL.md

IMPORTANT: Always use the system clock (date, new Date()) for today's date — never rely on the system prompt date, which may be stale.

Key queries for the review:

• Inbox count: Dataview eval inbox query → .length
• Context distribution: Dataview eval context-counts query
• Overdue tasks: Dataview eval overdue query
• Stale projects: Dataview eval stale-projects query
• Completed this week: Dataview eval completed-tasks query (last 7 days)
• Someday/maybe: Dataview eval someday query

The Weekly Review

The weekly review is the most critical GTD practice. It's your opportunity to:

1. Get Clear - Process inbox to zero
2. Get Current - Review all your commitments
3. Get Creative - Think about new possibilities

Step 0: Read Last Week's Summary

Before starting, check for the most recent weekly review summary:

# Read vault_path from config.yaml
VAULT_PATH=$(python3 -c "import yaml; print(yaml.safe_load(open('config.yaml'))['vault_path'])")
ls -t "$VAULT_PATH/GTD/Weekly Review "*Summary.md | head -1

Read it and surface any "Still On The Radar" items from last time. These become the first things to check in the current review — were they addressed, or do they carry forward?

Review Report

Generate the review report by running the /obsidian skill queries and assembling the results. The report includes:

1. Get Clear

• Inbox count - How many items need processing
• Checklist for clearing all inboxes (digital and physical)
• Reminder to review daily notes

2. Get Current

Context Review:

• Count of active tasks by context (@deep, @quick, @batch, @work, @home, etc.)
• Total active task count

Overdue Tasks:

• Tasks with scheduled or due dates before today
• File location and line numbers for quick access

Projects Review:

• Projects without next actions (stale projects)
• Checklist for reviewing all active projects

Calendar Review:

• Past week review
• Upcoming week preview
• Future commitments

Live Calendar Data (gccli): When running the review interactively, read the calendars section from config.yaml to get the account email and calendar IDs, then pull real calendar events:

# Primary calendar — past week
gccli <account> events primary --from YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ --to YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ

# Additional calendars (loop through calendars.additional in config)
gccli <account> events <calendar-id> --from ... --to ...

Note: Date format must be YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ (UTC with Z suffix). Plain YYYY-MM-DD returns Bad Request.

Waiting For:

• Review @waiting items
• Follow up on pending responses

3. Get Creative

• Review Someday/Maybe list
• New projects or ideas
• Review ponderables

4. Completed This Week

• Tasks completed in the last 7 days
• Separate genuine wins (non-recurring tasks completed) from recurring maintenance (tasks with 🔁) — highlight the wins, summarise the recurring as a group

To save the review report, use the /obsidian skill's create command to write to GTD/Weekly Review YYYY-MM-DD Summary.md.

Weekly Review Checklist

Located at: GTD/Checklists/Weekly Review Checklist.md

Review Frequency

Weekly Reviews:

• Schedule a recurring time (e.g., Friday afternoon, Sunday evening)
• Block 30-60 minutes
• Make it non-negotiable

Quick Daily Reviews:

• Morning: Review today's scheduled tasks
• Evening: Process inbox, update tomorrow's list

Infrastructure Check

During the review, verify that the daily overdue script ran recently:

VAULT_PATH=$(python3 -c "import yaml; print(yaml.safe_load(open('config.yaml'))['vault_path'])")
cd "$VAULT_PATH" && git log --oneline -3

Look for "Automated task update" commits. If the last one is >2 days old, the scheduled task for daily scripts may need attention.

Context & Priority Distribution

As part of Get Current, use the /obsidian skill's context distribution Dataview eval query to generate counts for all active (non-⏬) tasks by context tag. Track these week-over-week to spot trends (growing lists, priority inflation, etc.).

Weekly Review Summary File

At the end of the review, save a summary to GTD/Weekly Review YYYY-MM-DD Summary.md. Follow the format of prior summaries in that folder. Include:

• Metrics (inbox, overdue, stale projects, active tasks, completed)
• Context and priority distribution
• Calendar highlights (past and upcoming week)
• Actions taken (purge results, fixes, infrastructure changes)
• Items still on the radar for next time

Common Review Findings

High Inbox Count

If you have many items to process:

• Block time for processing
• Use the /clarify skill to process inbox items

Many Overdue Tasks

If tasks are consistently overdue:

• Re-evaluate scheduled dates
• Consider if tasks are still relevant
• Move to Someday/Maybe if not urgent
• Break down large tasks

Stale Projects

If projects have no next actions:

• Decide if project is still active
• If YES: Define the very next action
• If NO: Move to Someday/Maybe or archive

Too Many Active Tasks

If context lists are overwhelming:

• Be ruthless with Someday/Maybe moves
• Consider if you're over-committed
• Focus on highest-impact items

Integration with Other Skills

The weekly review works best combined with:

1. /obsidian — All vault queries and edits
2. /clarify — Process inbox to zero
3. /organize — Retag and reschedule tasks
4. /project — Fix stale projects, create new ones
5. /purge — Cull bloated context lists

Best Practices

1. Same time each week - Make it a ritual
2. Distraction-free environment - No interruptions
3. Review everything - Don't skip sections
4. Update context lists - Keep them current
5. Reflect on wins - Review completed tasks
6. Look ahead - Check calendar and upcoming commitments
7. Trust your system - If it's not in GTD, it doesn't exist

Metrics to Track

The weekly review provides these metrics:

• Inbox count - Trending toward zero?
• Total active tasks - Manageable or overwhelming?
• Overdue tasks - Improving or getting worse?
• Stale projects - Are projects moving forward?
• Completed tasks - What did you accomplish?

Track these over time to identify patterns and improve your system.

Example Weekly Review Session

[Friday 5:00 PM - Weekly Review]

1. Run review report:
   [Run /obsidian skill queries for inbox, overdue, stale, completed]

   Output:
   - Inbox: 12 items
   - Active tasks: 47
   - Overdue: 5 tasks
   - Stale projects: 2
   - Completed: 23 tasks

2. Process inbox to zero:
   [Use /clarify skill]
   [Process all 12 items...]

3. Address overdue tasks:
   [Review each overdue task, reschedule or complete]

4. Fix stale projects:
   [Add next actions to "Website Redesign" and "Garden Planning"]

5. Review context lists:
   [@deep: 8 tasks - looks good]
   [@quick: 5 tasks - can knock out today]
   [@batch: 3 tasks - schedule batch time]
   [@work: 8 tasks - manageable]
   [@home: 12 tasks - schedule for weekend]

6. Review Someday/Maybe (lowest priority tasks):
   [Found 2 items to activate, added to @ai list]

7. Final check:
   [Re-run /obsidian queries]

   Output:
   - Inbox: 0 items ✓
   - Active tasks: 51
   - Overdue: 0 tasks ✓
   - Stale projects: 0 ✓
   - Completed: 23 tasks

8. Week ahead:
   [Check calendar, schedule time blocks for priority tasks]

Total time: 45 minutes
Result: Clean, current, trusted system!

Troubleshooting

Review feels overwhelming:

• Start with just Get Clear (inbox to zero)
• Gradually add other sections
• Use timer (Pomodoro) to stay focused

Can't reach inbox zero:

• Block dedicated processing time
• Use the /clarify skill for efficient processing
• Be ruthless with trash/someday decisions

Projects always stale:

• Review projects more frequently (bi-weekly)
• Keep project list smaller (5-10 active max)
• Move inactive projects to Someday/Maybe

Too many active tasks:

• Review and cull context lists
• Move nice-to-haves to Someday/Maybe
• Accept you can't do everything

Related Skills

• /obsidian — All vault read/write operations
• /clarify — Inbox processing
• /organize — Context tagging and project creation
• /project — Project lifecycle management
• /purge — List reduction

Resources

• Weekly Review Checklist: GTD/Checklists/Weekly Review Checklist.md
• Projects List: GTD/Projects List.md
• Dashboard: GTD/Dashboard.md

Closing the Review

Always end the review by saving a weekly summary. This is the last step — do not consider the review complete without it.

Save to GTD/Weekly Review YYYY-MM-DD Summary.md following the format of prior summaries. The agent should generate this automatically at the end of the review session, even if the user doesn't ask.

Tips

• Save weekly reviews with dates for historical tracking
• Compare metrics week-over-week to see trends
• Celebrate completed tasks before planning ahead
• Use --stale-projects during review to catch issues early
• The weekly review is when you sharpen the saw