AI systems, in practice · Daily priorities

A daily prioritiesmessage in Slack

Each morning the system sends a short Slack message: what is overdue, what is on the calendar, which emails are waiting on a reply, and which bugs and feature requests are still open. It's opt-in, and each person picks the voice it speaks in.

Where priorities lived before

A task board is accurate, but most people open it once something is already late. The list that matters is scattered across a task tool, a calendar and an inbox, and nobody assembles it before the day starts.

Pick a voice

It is a profile setting. Nobody gets a voice until they choose one.

Daily bot 9:00 AM · direct message

Sam! Shoes tied? Whistle's blowing. Let's go!

Tasks

Send revised quote, Clinic website (overdue 9 days)
Review homepage copy (overdue 4 days)
Approve launch checklist (due today)

Nine days on that quote. Nine. We do not skip leg day and we do not skip the quote.

Today's calendar

10:00 Kickoff call with Dana
14:30 Design review

Two meetings. That is a warm-up, not a workout. Hydrate in between.

Emails waiting on you

Logo files, from Mei
Contract question, from Alex

Two people are waiting on you. Nobody gets picked last on my team.

Open bugs and features

Bug: contact form submits twice
Feature: booking confirmation email

Drop and give me one bug fix. Then one feature. Move it.

Do the quote first. Then you may sit.

The same list in five voices. The bullets stay put and the commentary changes. Pick a voice, or switch the message off.

How the morning list is built

The list is built before the day starts.

The system gathers overdue and due-soon work with the oldest first, today's meetings, emails still waiting on a reply, and the open bugs and feature requests.

It arrives in Slack.

It arrives as a direct message in Slack at a set time on working days, and skips days off and days with nothing to say.

The facts are the same in every voice.

Every bullet reads the same. Only the commentary around the bullets changes.

Each person chooses a voice.

It is a profile setting. Pick the plain list or one of a few characters, or switch it off. Nobody is assigned one.

Why the voice matters

A plain list is easy to skim past. A gym teacher telling you the quote is nine days late gets read. The voice gets the message read, and the list is the useful part.