What should I review at the end of each workweek?

Set aside about 15–20 minutes as a starting point, then make it shorter or longer to suit your workload. Review four things: outcomes, open work, upcoming commitments, and decisions or support needed.

Start with what changed this week, not just what you were busy doing. Note finished work, useful progress, and any commitments you kept. Then scan your task list and calendar so you can spot unfinished items and things that are about to arrive. The aim is to leave yourself a clear handoff into next week—not to create a perfect record of every hour.

Describe the result or deliverable rather than the effort. “Worked on the monthly report” is an activity; “sent the draft report to the team for review” identifies a concrete result. If the work is still in progress, say what changed and what remains, rather than counting it as finished.

A useful note is one another person—or your future self—could understand without reconstructing the week. For example:

1. Completed: “Updated the onboarding checklist and shared it with the team.”
2. In progress: “Collected feedback from two reviewers; still need input from [reviewer or group].”

Avoid turning this into a performance scorecard unless your role specifically calls for one. A short factual record is enough.

Give each unfinished task a decision instead of copying it unchanged into next week. Choose one: schedule a next action, wait for someone or something, renegotiate the timing, or stop doing it because it is no longer needed.

For anything you carry forward, write the next visible step and a date to revisit it. “Finish presentation” is vague; “draft the opening slide on Tuesday” is easier to act on. If another person’s input is the blocker, record what you need and when you will follow up. If the due date is at risk, raise that before it becomes a surprise; do not silently assume the deadline has moved.

Scan your calendar for meetings, deadlines, appointments, and other fixed commitments. For each important one, check whether you know the purpose, what preparation is needed, and whether you owe anyone something beforehand. Then look for obvious clashes or days that already have little room for additional work.

You do not need to assign every task to a precise hour. Choose a small number of priorities for the week and identify where they could fit. Leave room for work that arrives unexpectedly. If a commitment is unclear, write down the question you need answered and who can answer it.

Assuming a fictional project coordinator with a team update due Wednesday, the notes might look like this:

1. Outcomes: Sent the project outline for review; captured three questions from the team.
2. Open work: Incorporate reviewer comments. Next action: sort comments into changes and questions on Monday.
3. Waiting: Need [team or person] to confirm the delivery date. Next action: follow up Tuesday if there is no reply.
4. Coming up: Team update Wednesday. Prepare a brief status summary by Tuesday afternoon.
5. Decision needed: Ask [manager or project lead] whether the optional feature is in scope before estimating the remaining work.
6. Priorities: Prepare the update, resolve the delivery-date question, and revise the outline.

Those details are placeholders for illustration, not a real person’s work history. Notice that the open items each have a next step, while the decision is phrased as a question for the right person.

Record the useful facts you can: what you responded to, what was resolved, what was delayed, and what remains uncertain. You can note a pattern without judging yourself—for example, “Handled incoming requests; planned draft moved to next week.” Then choose one practical adjustment, such as reserving a work block or asking which request takes priority.

If you cannot tell what mattered most, make that the decision to clarify. Ask your manager or team lead to help rank competing work rather than trying to infer priorities from a busy calendar. A review is useful even when the week did not follow the plan.