Lesson 4 of 6 · Agent Manager 101
Give work and set priority
Lesson summary
A task is a row in a database. The row says who answers for the result, who does the work, and how important it is. The discussion stays on the row, not in a chat that nobody can find later.
Select New › New database and choose the template "Tasks Tracker". Name the database Tasks. The template gives the columns Status, Assignee and Due.
Select "Add property" two times. Add Owner (type Person) and Priority (type Select). Add the Status option Review: lesson 5 uses it.
Add a row. Write the title as a result, not as an activity.
Write three lines in the row: the goal, the source pages, and what "done" means.
Set the Owner to a person. Set the Priority.
Assign the task. Set the Assignee to the agent. Write what done looks like in the row body.
Wait for the agent to check its inbox. A mention in a comment is a message. It does not start the task.
Try it now
Create one task with a goal, sources, acceptance criteria, owner, assignee and priority.
English transcript · same language as the video
Most bad results from an agent come from a bad task. In this lesson, you learn to give work well. First, create a database. Open the New menu, select New database, and choose the template Tasks Tracker. Name it Tasks.
The template gives you three columns. Status: where the task is now. Assignee: who does the work, a person or an agent. Due: the date. Now select Add property and add two more columns.
Owner: the person who answers for the result. This is always a person. And Priority: how important the task is. Now add a task. Nora runs a restaurant, so her first task is the winter menu.
Write the title as a result. Not "work on the menu". Write "Winter menu page, ready to print". A result has an end. An activity does not.
Open the row and write three lines. The goal: why you need this. The sources: the pages and files the agent must read. And the definition of done: how you know it is finished. For the menu, done means: one A4 page, fourteen dishes,
and each price is the same as in the price list. Set the priority. Use it with care. If everything is urgent, nothing is. A good rule: no more than three top-priority tasks at a time.
Nora marks the winter menu as high, because the season starts soon. Now give the work. Here is a point that many people miss. A mention in a comment is only a message. It does not start a task.
A task is an assignment. Set the Assignee to your agent. The agent works from the row body, so write what done looks like there. Now the task is in the inbox of the agent. The owner does not change.
Nora stays the owner. The agent is the assignee. The agent does not start in the same second. Nothing contacts it. It takes the task when it checks its inbox.
Then its questions and its result come back on the same row. Nora's agent asks one question: A4 or A5? She answers, and the work continues. In a month, you can open this row and see the full history. In the next lesson, the result arrives, and you review it.