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⚡
I lead a data science team at Notion. My days are a mix of 1x1s, cross-functional syncs, Slack threads, email, docs, and dashboards, all competing for attention before 9am. I used to start every morning in full triage mode: skimming calendar, scanning Slack, checking email, opening up docs from yesterday. It took 30–45 minutes, and I still missed things.
So I built an agent to do it for me. I call it Jessica’s Chief of Staff 😅 a nerdy name for a very practical job: help me start the day calm, prepared, and on top of what matters.
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✅ What my Chief of Staff actually does (day to day)
- Daily Brief (weekdays, 8am PT): Every morning, it pulls my calendar, skims Slack threads I’m already in, checks my email for anything that actually matters, reviews Notion docs + meeting notes, and compiles it all into a single brief with prep suggestions, priority rankings, and links to everything. It even rotates a little Metrics “deep dive” section.
- Weekly Context Update (Mondays): It updates a Living Context page, which basically is a running memory of what’s happening across my org: key priorities, risks, cross-functional signals, what each of my reports is focused on, key initiatives, and any org changes / coverage (OOO, ownership).
- Weekly org wrap (Fridays): End-of-week digest from the spaces I already participate in, for example, my meetings, public Slack channels I follow, and docs/meeting notes shared with me. It highlights what I need to know to stay aligned (wins, risks, open questions) and where a little follow-up might be helpful.
🛠️ How it works under the hood
The agent is a Notion custom agent. Here’s what I have connected (nothing fancy, just the basics 💅):
| Tool |
What it does |
| Notion |
Reads and writes pages, databases, docs, comments. Full workspace awareness. |
| Calendar |
Pulls today's meetings, attendees, and agendas. Optionally uses shared calendars (where you already have access) to help with scheduling context and meeting prep. |
| Mail |
Scans inbox for unread/unanswered emails. Filters for importance + urgency signals. |
| Slack |
Reads public channels and specific channels the org lives in. Surfaces threads with new replies or unresolved questions. |
The agent has 4 triggers:
- Daily recurrence (weekdays 8am PT): generates the morning brief
- Weekly recurrence (Mondays 9am PT): updates the Living Context
- Weekly recurrence (Fridays 8am PT): Weekly org wrap
- @mention: I can talk to it anytime in Notion for ad-hoc questions
💽 Every brief lands in a dedicated "Daily Briefs" database with properties like date, status, topline, risks, and key links. The weekly context goes into a single Living Context page that accumulates over time. This is the agent's long-term memory.
📝 The instructions are the product
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💡
If there’s one thing I want you to take away, it’s this: the instructions page is where all the value lives.
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The agent runtime, the connectors, the triggers, those are infrastructure. The instructions are the strategy. They tell the agent:
- What to look for: meetings, emails, Slack threads, comments, open tasks
- How to prioritize: who matters most, what signals urgency, what's been flagged before
- What format to use: specific sections, specific ordering, links everywhere
- What NOT to do: don’t take action on my behalf (no sending messages, no resolving comments). This is informational only.