missive

Inbox Triage

Decision Framework

For each conversation, decide: Respond, Delegate, Schedule, Archive, or Delete. Avoid "deal with later" piles.

Priority matrix:

• Urgent + Important: Handle now
• Important, not urgent: Schedule time
• Urgent, not important: Delegate or quick response
• Neither: Archive or delete

High Priority Signals

• VIPs (executives, key clients)
• Time-sensitive language ("urgent", "ASAP", "by EOD", "deadline")
• Blockers (someone waiting on you)
• Revenue/customer impact, escalations

Medium Priority Signals

• Direct requests with reasonable timelines
• Follow-ups on ongoing work
• Meeting requests, questions requiring research

Low Priority Signals

• FYI/informational, newsletters
• Non-urgent internal updates, social/networking messages

Auto-Archive Criteria

• Spam, unread newsletters, automated notifications with no action needed
• Social media notifications, completed transactions, calendar confirmations

Triage Workflow

1. Fetch conversations: missive_conversations action: list
2. Quick scan subjects/senders for priority flags
3. For each conversation, classify and act:
   • Archive: Close the conversation
   • Respond: Draft reply (see Drafting Replies below)
   • Delegate: Assign to team member (see Team Assignment below)
   • Schedule: Create task with due date via missive_tasks action: create

The 2-Minute Rule

If you can respond in under 2 minutes, do it now (or draft it). Otherwise, schedule dedicated time.

Drafting Replies

Use missive_messages action: create to draft or send replies.

missive_messages action: create
message: {
  conversation: [conversation_id],
  body: "...",
  from_field: { address: "..." },
  to_fields: [{ address: "..." }]
}

For reply-all, include all original recipients in to_fields and cc_fields as appropriate.

Labeling

Principles

• Use existing labels only. Do not create new labels. If none fit, tell the user.
• Labels are for filtering, not describing. Ask: "Will I need to find emails like this later?"
• Apply 1-3 labels per conversation. Over-labeling creates noise.

When to Label

• Project/client identification
• Action required (Needs Response, Waiting On, Review)
• Priority (Urgent -- use sparingly)
• Type categorization (Invoice, Contract, Support)

When to Skip Labels

• One-off conversations you won't search for again
• Spam/newsletters (archive/delete instead)
• Already in a well-organized mailbox

Workflow

1. List available labels: missive_labels action: list
2. Check existing labels on the conversation
3. Apply labels: missive_messages with add_shared_labels: [label_id, ...]

Querying by Label

missive_conversations action: list
shared_label: [label_id]

Combine with closed: false, team: [team_id], or assignee: [user_id].

Anti-Patterns

• 5+ labels on one conversation
• Labeling what the mailbox already tells you
• Labeling every conversation indiscriminately

Team Assignment

Principles

• Every actionable conversation needs one owner.
• Always provide context when assigning -- never silently reassign.
• Route by expertise, relationship, availability, then authority.

Operations

List teams: missive_teams action: list List users: missive_users action: list

Assign conversation:

missive_messages action: create
message: {
  conversation: [conversation_id],
  add_assignees: [user_id]
}

Routing Decisions

Handoff Template

When delegating, post context:

missive_posts action: create
post: {
  conversation: [conversation_id],
  markdown: "@[Name] - Assigning to you because [reason]. Action needed: [what]. Timeline: [when]. Context: [background]."
}

Escalation

Escalate when: customer is frustrated, issue exceeds your authority/knowledge, time-sensitive with no owner, legal/PR risk.

Include: situation summary, what's been tried, what you need from the escalation point.

Monitoring

Your assignments: missive_conversations action: list with assignee: [your_id], closed: false Team workload: list conversations filtered by each assignee.

Anti-Patterns

• Assignment ping-pong (discuss ownership first)
• Ghost assignment (no context)
• Assigning trivial things that don't need ownership

Contact Management

Principles

• One record per contact. Search before creating to avoid duplicates.
• Keep data fresh. Update when you notice changes in conversations.
• Organize into books. Clients, Prospects, Vendors, Partners, Personal, etc.

Operations

Deduplication

Before creating:

1. Search by email (most reliable identifier)
2. Search by name + company
3. Check variations (john@ vs john.doe@)

When duplicates found: merge to the most complete record, update references, remove the duplicate.

Required Fields

At minimum: email or phone number + name (first and/or last).

Bulk Import

• Validate data before import
• Check for duplicates first
• Import in batches (respect rate limits)
• Assign to appropriate contact book