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AI systems, in practice · Team operations

Check-ins, timesheetsand time off in Slack

Timesheets, who's in today, vacation handoffs, overtime, and a holiday that lands on a day off. We built a system that handles each one in Slack, where the team already talks. A person approves anything that needs a yes.

What the week looked like before

Someone ran the office by asking. Who's in today? Who hasn't logged hours? Did anyone write handoff notes before leaving? Overtime lived in a spreadsheet, and nobody was sure what a holiday on a day off was worth. Every answer took a message, then a reminder, then another one, and the person asking never got to their own work.

Five days, and nobody had to chase anyone.

Times someone had to chase: 0

  1. Mon9:30 am

    Assistant

    Morning, Sam. Home or office today?

    Today: send the revised logo. Review the staging build.

    HomeOffice

    Sam is in the office.

  2. Tue4:30 pm

    Assistant

    Priya, no hours are logged for today yet.

    Log hours

    7.5 hours logged.

  3. Wed9:30 am

    Assistant

    Jordan filed a sick day form.

    8 hours logged for Jordan. The team channel knows.

    Tagged@Mei

  4. Thu10:30 am

    Assistant

    Mei, today is your last day before vacation. Write your handoff notes.

    4:00 pm. Still open. Notes for the team?

    Write notes

    Handoff notes posted.

    Tagged@Priya@Dana

  5. FriAutomatic

    Assistant

    Alex, Monday's holiday lands on your regular day off.

    +8 hours banked. Expires in six months.

Example messages from a made-up week. The people and hours are invented.

How the Slack assistant works

A check-in that takes one tap.

Each weekday morning, everyone gets a Slack message: home or office? The answer is recorded, and a home day is announced in the team channel. The same message lists the day's top priorities and links to the sick-day form.

Missing hours get a nudge at the end of the day.

At a set time, anyone with no hours logged hears about it in a direct message. Nobody else does. On Tuesday morning leadership gets one report of last week's gaps.

Handoff notes get written before vacation.

On the last working day before approved time off, a reminder lands mid-morning. If the notes aren't in by late afternoon, a follow-up does. When they arrive, they're posted for the team and tag the project managers on that person's work.

Sick days are one form.

Pick the date, tag the projects and coworkers affected, and leave a note. The person's hours log themselves, the team channel is told, and leadership gets a short alert.

Overtime is banked with a date on it.

Extra hours go to an approver, then sit in a ledger as available time. They expire six months later, and they're used oldest first when someone takes time off. A holiday that falls on a regular day off is added automatically, once, with no duplicates.

Unused vacation gets a reminder.

Twice a year, the people with the most time left get a note saying how much they have, while there's still time to book it.

Try writing a handoff note

Pick the projects you're leaving. The note posts for the team and tags the project manager on each one. The projects and people are made up.

Projects Mei is leaving

Team channel

MMei

Mei is away Oct 14 to 21 and back Oct 22. Where each project stands is in the project notes.

Pick at least one project. The note needs someone to tag.

What a person approves

Overtime goes to an approver before it's banked. Vacation is approved by management, and so is moving a day off to another day that week. The system only asks and reminds.

Results

timesheets, check-ins and handoffs come to each person in Slack
No chasing
are written on the last day before vacation, without anyone asking
Handoff notes
is banked with how much it's worth and when it expires
Overtime

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