# A weekly review in 30 minutes

> A concrete way to do the GTD weekly review in half an hour — what to go through, in what order, what to skip, and why a short review every week beats a perfect one once a month.
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> Page: https://www.altofocus.app/en/blog/weekly-review-in-30-minutes · Operator: Štichauer s.r.o. · Overview for AI: https://www.altofocus.app/llms.txt

*Petr Štichauer · 15 September 2026*


David Allen calls the weekly review the "critical success factor" of GTD. He's right. Without it, your system stops matching reality within a few weeks and you stop trusting it. And once you don't trust the system, you start keeping things in your head again — exactly what GTD is trying to prevent.

The trouble is that the by-the-book review takes one to two hours. On a Friday afternoon that's unrealistic. Here's a 30-minute version.

## The rule: short, and every week

A 30-minute review every week beats a perfect review once a month. If you don't even have 30 minutes, do 10 — just go through your projects. The worst review is the one that doesn't happen.

Put it in your calendar as a meeting with yourself. Friday around lunchtime works well: the week is still fresh and the weekend ahead is clear.

## Phase 1: Get clear (10 minutes)

The goal is to get everything into the Inbox and then empty the Inbox.

1. **Gather loose papers**, receipts, meeting notes. Anything that needs action goes into the Inbox.
2. **Scan your e-mail and messages**: is there a task in there that isn't written down yet?
3. **Empty your head.** Spend two minutes writing down whatever comes to mind. Don't filter.
4. **Process the Inbox.** For each item decide: do it now (under two minutes), assign it to a project, defer it, or delete it.

Tip: the Inbox doesn't need to be organised. It's a mailbox, not an archive. The goal is for it to be empty at the end.

## Phase 2: Get current (15 minutes)

Now go through your projects. Not tasks — projects. Ask three questions of each:

- **Does it have a next action?** Every active project needs at least one concrete, physical action. "Sort out the website" isn't an action. "Ask Jana whether she has the assets" is.
- **Is it still active?** If nothing has happened on it for three weeks, put it on hold or drop it. Dropping a project isn't failure — it's a decision.
- **What am I waiting for?** Go through your Waiting for list. Chase anything that's been hanging for more than a week.

Then look at your **calendar**: one week back (what came out of it?) and two weeks ahead (what needs preparing?).

How many projects fit into 15 minutes? With 40 projects that's 20 seconds each — and that's enough, because for most you're only confirming they're fine. If it isn't enough, you have too many projects.

## Phase 3: The view from above (5 minutes)

This is the part most people skip, and it's what turns the review into more than maintenance.

- Look at your **goals** for the year. Does each have at least one active project?
- Look at **projects without a goal**. Are there many? Are you living reactively?
- Ask: **What would matter most next week?** Flag it.

Five minutes. No more. This isn't annual strategic planning, just a course check.

## What to skip

- **Reorganising.** The review isn't the time for new tags and folders. If the structure bugs you, write it down as a project.
- **Doing tasks.** Two-minute items from the Inbox are the exception. Everything else waits for Monday.
- **Perfectionism.** A project you didn't get to, you'll get to next week.

## How an app helps

A review goes better when something guides you. AltoFocus has a guide for the weekly review: it shows one project and its problem at a time — no next action, a missed due date, a task waiting on someone for too long. On the Altitude plan, AI also suggests a clean-up (complete what's done, cancel what's stale), but deletes nothing without your confirmation. At the end it checks the gaps between your goals and projects.

Without AI it works the same; you just ask the questions yourself. The tool matters less than the rhythm.

## A checklist to print

1. Gather papers and notes
2. Scan e-mail and messages
3. Empty your head (2 minutes)
4. Process the Inbox to zero
5. Go through projects: next action, still active, waiting for
6. Calendar: one week back, two ahead
7. Goals: does each have a project?
8. Pick 1–3 priorities for next week

Thirty minutes. Every week. In a month you won't understand how you managed without it.