Talking to a role

The conversation is the normal way to hand over work. You write what you need, the way you would say it to a person, and the role picks it up.

Asking for something

1. Choose the role you want to talk to (office, team or org chart), or mention it with an at-sign from another role’s conversation.
2. Write in the box at the bottom. The more specific, the better: what you want, by when and what material it has to work with.
3. Send.

The role answers in the same conversation. If it needs tools to do the job, it uses them; if it needs permission, it asks and the assignment sits waiting for your signature.

What helps it go well

• State the result, not the procedure. “I need October sales summarised in a table” works better than “open the database and add up”.
• State the scope. If there are limits (do not touch production, do not send anything outside), write them down.
• Attach or point to the material. If the work depends on a document, have it in documents or say so in the message.

Calling a role with the at-sign

From the open conversation you can address any role without changing screens: type @ and the role’s name.

@role Review March invoicing and tell me what doesn't add up

What happens:

• The message goes into the mentioned role’s conversation, not the one you have open.
• The role starts just as if you had opened its card: its tools, its budget and its memory.
• The reply appears in the conversation where you asked for it, so you do not have to go looking for it. But the role’s own conversation is the one that keeps the full thread.

It is for everyday use: asking a colleague of the CEO something without losing sight of what you were doing. If you do not know who it should go to, do not use the at-sign: talk to leadership and let it hand the work out, which is the last section.

What happens while it works

The conversation shows what the role is doing and the office shows it at its desk. If the work is long, you can close the tab: the assignment carries on and stays on the work screen.

Interrupting

If the role has gone off in the wrong direction, there is a button to stop it. What was done up to that point is kept: the work is not lost, it just stops.

Several roles at once

You can have one conversation per role. Each is independent and has its own history. If a role needs something from another, it asks for it, and who asked for what is recorded.

Leadership hands it out

If you do not know who to go to, talk to leadership (the CEO). It takes what belongs to no one in particular, splits it into tasks and sends it to the right role. It is the same route as in a company of people.