After 10+ post-action reviews, analyze in aggregate…

When This Fires

• After accumulating 10+ post-action reviews, retrospectives, or after-action reports
• During quarterly personal review when enough reviews have accumulated for pattern extraction
• When the same type of problem keeps appearing across different work domains
• Complements After recurring activities, spend 60 seconds recording… (60-second observations) with the meta-analysis that gives those observations systemic meaning

Common Failure Mode

Analyzing each review in isolation: extracting the task-specific lesson without cross-referencing against other reviews. "This meeting went over because I didn't set an agenda." "This project slipped because requirements were unclear." "This article was weak because I didn't outline first." Three separate lessons — or one systemic pattern (insufficient upfront structure) producing three symptoms? Without aggregate analysis, you treat each as independent.

The Protocol

(1) After 10+ reviews have accumulated, read them all in one session. (2) Look for recurring patterns across different task types. Specifically: recurring contributing factors (what keeps appearing?), recurring failure modes (how do things keep going wrong?), and recurring successful adaptations (what keeps working?). (3) For each pattern that appears in 3+ reviews across different contexts → classify as a systemic tendency. (4) For negative patterns: design an architectural fix that applies across all contexts. Not "set agendas for meetings" but "define the output before starting any activity." (5) For positive patterns: strengthen and codify them as personal operating principles. (6) Repeat the meta-analysis every 10-15 reviews.