Retrospective

Purpose

Analyze a completed interaction or task to extract lessons, identify process improvements, and update procedural memory.

When to Use

• After a multi-step task completes (success or failure).
• After a user interaction that revealed a gap or surprise.
• After an obstacle was resolved (capture the resolution pattern).
• Scheduled: end of each active work session.

Workflow

1. Reconstruct timeline — What happened, in what order? What was the goal?
2. Identify outcomes — Did it succeed? Partially? What was the quality?
3. Extract surprises — What was unexpected? What assumptions broke?
4. Find patterns — Does this match any existing procedural knowledge? Does it contradict any?
5. Derive lessons — Concrete, actionable learnings (not vague platitudes).
6. Update memory — Write observations, update procedures if warranted, flag contradictions for user review.

Output Format

subject: <what was analyzed>
date: <YYYY-MM-DD>
outcome: success | partial | failure
surprises:
  - <unexpected finding>
lessons:
  - <concrete actionable lesson>
procedure_updates:
  - procedure: <name>
    change: <what to update>
observations:
  - <observation to store>

References

• src/genesis/learning/procedural/ — Procedure CRUD for updates
• src/genesis/learning/observation_writer.py — Writing observations