Maintaining your setup

This lesson is still being tested: it improves with learners' feedback. If something is unclear, it is the lesson that needs fixing, not you.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to

set up a maintenance plan: every month, every quarter, every year;
check what protects your work: copies, backups, memory;
sort out: extensions, accesses, automations, subscriptions;
keep your setup simple over time.

Why it matters to you

Everything you built during the course ages: a forgotten connector keeps its accesses, a backup stops working, a plan changes price, a new tool does better. Without maintenance, the setup gets heavier until the day you no longer dare touch it. With fifteen minutes a month, it stays light, safe and up to date. This is the last lesson of the course, and the one that makes all the others last.

Before you start


You need	Your mon-espace-ia folder and your journal; the “My extensions” list and your stop plan, if you did modules 7 and 8; the maintenance plan (resource)
Cost	€0; the yearly review helps you check what you pay
Duration	40 minutes, then 15 minutes per month
Reminder	Maintenance is also the time to remove what should no longer be there

Understand it in 3 minutes

Three rhythms:

Rhythm	Duration	What it protects
Every month	15 min	Your work: copies, backups, memory, routines
Every quarter	30 min	Your accesses: extensions, connectors, automations, privacy
Every year	1 h	Your choices: subscriptions, tools, projects

The plan follows the course. Each line points to the lesson that taught you how to do it. You do nothing new: you do it on a fixed date.

Keep what is useful, remove the rest. This is the rule for extensions (module 7), connectors (module 8), subscriptions, and projects. A simple setup is safer, and easier to pick up again.

Only what you use. If you did not do modules 7, 8 or 12, cross out the lines that do not exist for you: the plan must be yours. It assumes your mon-espace-ia folder and your journal (modules 4 and 5): if you do not have them yet, do those modules first.

Do it together

1Step 1: Adapt the plan

Open the resource Maintenance plan. Cross out the lines that do not apply to you. Add what is specific to you (one more local tool, a project in progress).

2Step 2: The first maintenance, now

Do the “Every month” part right away: a checked copy of your folder, a backup re-imported, the memory reread. Note the date.

3Step 3: The dates in your calendar

Set three reminders in your calendar: the first of every month (15 minutes), the first month of every quarter (30 minutes), one date in the year (1 hour). If you have the point-semaine skill or a routine (module 8), you can add a line to it: “Remind me of the monthly maintenance”.

4Step 4: The final deliverable

The deliverable of module 13: your finished final project, its “how I did it” sheet (lesson 3), and your maintenance plan, adapted and started.

Your turn

Adapt the maintenance plan to your setup.
Do the first monthly maintenance today.
Put the three reminders in your calendar.
In three months, do the quarterly review, and note what you removed.

Resources to download

Maintenance plan for your setup: every month, every quarter, every year, and what you changed.

Check your work

It worked if:

your plan contains only what you really use;
the first monthly maintenance is done and dated;
the three reminders are in your calendar;
for each line, you know which lesson tells you how to do it.

Common mistakes:

a plan that is too long, never followed: simplify it;
backups that are never re-imported;
keeping accesses “just in case”;
never reviewing your subscriptions.

Keep it and pick it up later

The maintenance plan lives in your journal. At every yearly review, reread it and simplify it.

Going further

optional

You have finished the course. What comes next is your method, applied to your real projects: say, discuss, do, check, note. And, for every new tool, one hour to decide (lesson 4).

New words

3 words explained

Word	What it means
Maintenance plan	The list of checks to do every month, every quarter and every year
Review	The moment when you reread your choices, and keep or remove
Setup	Everything you use to work with AI: tools, folder, settings, extensions, automations