Proposals

Proposals and approvals#

The two places are easy to mix up. Proposals holds Arvemo's offers: "shall I connect these?" and "shall an agent help with this?". Approvals holds the work of agents that already ran: a draft that waits for your approval before it exists for anyone else. An offer you accept in Proposals starts agent work; its result then arrives in Approvals.

What the cards show#

Each card is one decision. There are two kinds:

• A connection. Arvemo sees that an item belongs to another, for example a todo to a goal or an initiative, and offers to link them.
• Help. For a todo or another item an agent can really prepare something, Arvemo offers one to three concrete pieces of help, each with a short title and what it gives you.

A help card says what it produces (Result, for example research, a draft or a list), how much work it is (Effort), where the information comes from (Source, the web or your workspace) and why now, such as an overdue item or a session coming up. Cards tied to a date come first, then quick ones, then long ones, then the ones you set aside.

Accept, decline or set aside#

1. Open Proposals. The title counts the open offers.
2. Read the card. On a help card you may type a hint into Note for the agent (optional); it goes to the agent with the order.
3. Decide:
   • The main button, named after what it does: Start research, Write draft, Connect and so on. Web and Mac: ↩. iPhone and iPad: swipe the card to the right.
   • Discard throws the offer away. Web and Mac: ⌫. iPhone and iPad: swipe left.
   • Later puts it aside for one day. It stays open and counted. Web and Mac: L. iPhone and iPad: swipe up.
4. Back (key Z on web and Mac) takes back the latest decision.

The arrow keys only leaf through the cards and never decide. A decision waits five seconds before it is sent, so Back works within that time. On the phone browser the place is not available; use the iPhone or iPad app or a wider window.

What happens when I accept#

For help, an agent task starts with the full context of the item and your hint. You see it on the agent board. For most items the result is a document linked to the item that comes to Approvals for your approval. For a todo, the result also arrives as a comment on the todo. When all cards are decided, the page tells you how many were started and how many discarded. If something was not started, Arvemo says it is already on it or has tried it before.

Links Arvemo sets by itself#

Not every connection is an offer. Loose links, such as "related to" between a risk, a decision or a document, are among the few things agents do directly (the complete list is under what agents may do): they are set at once. They are marked with the triangle, and a click on the × next to a link (tooltip Not related) removes it; Arvemo does not set it again by itself. Links that give structure, for example a todo that belongs to a goal, are offered as a question on the item, with the buttons Take and No.

Turn it down#

In your agent settings, under By themselves, the entry Todos switches Arvemo's offers of help on new todos on or off. That setting covers help on todos. Whatever Arvemo offers, nothing runs until you decide on its card.

Common questions#