Common foundation
Clearing your decision queue
Everything the automatic runs propose (appointments, replies, uncertain filings) waits in a single numbered queue that you clear in one answer: “accept 1 3 5, discard 2”.
The problem
The morning, evening and watch runs keep proposing things: an appointment to schedule, a reply to approve, a file filed with some doubt, a contact card to create. Each proposal stays in its own column, its own conversation thread, its own page. They scatter, they pile up, and nobody puts them in front of you: you end up finding an invitation accepted too late or a draft nobody ever read.
Step-by-step method
- One queue for everything: calendar, replies, filings, contact cards. Each run drops into it whatever is waiting for a decision, with its source and arrival date, instead of leaving it on its own page.
- Three checks before display: is the event already in the calendar? Is the date already past? Who is the sender? A dead card, because the event was scheduled in the meantime, switches to “obsolete” on its own and is no longer shown to you.
- A numbered table, grouped by column, with overdue items at the end of each group. The age of each decision is shown; a “more than 7 days” filter brings the oldest one to the top.
- Answer by numbers, in one line: “accept 1 3 5, discard 2, tentative 7, postpone 9”. Anything not mentioned stays in the queue, unchanged.
- A single grouped write, then a line-by-line report, read back from the source (round trip): the event is in the calendar, the file is filed, the contact card exists.
- Beyond 5 pending items, the decision session is offered automatically at the end of the run. The overall review points the way; the decision session settles things.
- One “accept” per thread: an approval given in another conversation is not carried over. Approval is given in the thread where the proposal is presented, on its numbers.
See also: The Reactor, an anticipation dashboard and Sorting your email by action.
Deliverable
An empty queue, or a dated one (“3 items pending, the oldest 4 days old”), and a report of what was written, item by item.
Safeguards
Nothing is written before the numbers. A tentative event is marked “?” in its title and does not block the slot. An approval covers only the numbers given, in this thread. No patient data in the queue.
Starter prompt
Gather everything waiting for my decision: calendar proposals, draft replies, uncertain filings, contact cards. Drop whatever is already in the calendar or past due, then show a numbered table by column with the age of each item. Write nothing before my answer such as “accept 1 3, discard 2”, then do a single write and read it back.