Easier tracking of continuing professional development (CPD)
This isn't exactly the same, but I think might be a useful solution for you as well: for things like tracking travel planning or publications in process, I maintain spreadsheets for myself that track both each item and the workflow for dealing with it in little chunks over a long period of time.  In each spreadsheet, I maintain one sheet per year, so that things don't become too crowded.  I then keep all of my key workflow charts open in the background, such that it takes me only about 15 seconds to tab over, make an entry, and return.

Something similar might work for you on tracking CPD.  Have a column for the items in you queue, another column for when you actually start reading it, and a third for when you finish reading it.  It's not automated, but it's lightweight enough that if you get in the habit of tracking, you should be able to do it with minimal time cost.