Run an inbox flow as a manager

This recipe is for a team lead who gets requests from everywhere. Instead of tracking them in your head, every request lands in one list, and once a day you turn each one into a decision in a GTD session.

You need a team folder you can add a list to, and for step 5 a Telegram account connected to Hule.

Permissions for the setup

Creating the list needs Create for lists, and sharing it needs Share: the List/Folder manager and Admin sets have both. See Permissions and access.

Requests list and Triage view

• A Requests list where your team, and you, drop anything that needs a decision.
• A GTD view on that list, where one session takes you through the requests one at a time.
• Every request ends up in one of four places:
  • delegated to another list;
  • scheduled for you in another list;
  • put off in Requests until a later day;
  • closed.

Team (folder, shared with the team)
├── Requests      ← the Inbox list: everyone can add here
├── Product
└── Support

Inbox setup

1. Add a list called Requests in your team's folder (Create a list). It appears in the sidebar.

2. In its Configure → Features, pick the Teamwork preset (Turn features on or off). Tasks in Requests get an assignee field, watchers and time tracking. Do the same for the lists you delegate to, such as Product and Support, so people can be assigned there.

3. Share the list, or the folder it is in, with the team with Edit access (Share with a member). Members see Requests in their sidebar and can add tasks to it with their Worker set.

4. Click your name at the bottom of the sidebar, choose Workspace settings, and under Me in this workspace open GTD. Pick Requests as the Inbox list (Inbox list setting). New tasks you create without choosing a list now land in Requests.

   List refused?

   "This list can't be your inbox" means you can't create tasks in it: ask for Edit access.

5. From your phone, send the bot a request and tap Requests in its reply (Add tasks from Telegram):

   /new Ask the landlord about the Berlin office tomorrow

   The task Ask the landlord about the Berlin office appears in Requests, due tomorrow.

   Bot says your account isn't connected?

   Connect it first: Connect the bot.

6. In the list's menu, choose New view, set Display Mode to GTD and name it Triage (GTD view on your Inbox list). The view shows Start GTD session · 1, with the number of requests waiting; an empty list shows Inbox zero.

7. Ask the team to put anything they need from you into Requests, one task per request.

Daily triage session

Pick a fixed time, for example 9:30 after the stand-up, and open Triage.

1. Press Start GTD session. The session shows one request at a time. It skips requests that are put off, closed or that you can't change.

2. Answer Is it actionable? (Decision path in a session).

   • On Yes, it's actionable, check the Desired outcome: it becomes the task's title, and any steps you add become its subtasks. Then pick what happens:

     Choice	Use it when	What Hule does
     I'll do it now	It takes under two minutes	Starts a two-minute clock; you close the task when done
     Schedule it and do it myself	It is yours to do	Assigns it to you and moves it to the list you pick, with dates if you set them
     Delegate it	Someone else owns the next step	Moves it to the list you pick. Pick the person under Assign to and a follow-up date under When; both are optional

   • On No, pick what it is:

     Choice	Use it when	What Hule does
     Someday / maybe	Not now, not never	Keeps it in Requests until the day you pick
     Trash	It needs nothing	Delete removes it; Keep keeps it as a record with its history, still found by search

   Delegating? Pick another list

   A delegated request left in Requests comes back in the next session unless its start date is still to come.

   

   Trash → Delete can't be undone

   The task goes with its history (Not actionable).

3. When the view shows Inbox zero, press End session. What stays in Requests is:

   • put off to a later day;
   • closed;
   • or a task you can't change.

A delegated task's due date is the day you follow up. To hear about its progress before then, choose Watch in the task's menu (Watch a task).

Triage problems and fixes

• A request skips the session. The session mutes tasks that are put off, closed or that you can't change. Check the request's:

  • start date;
  • status;
  • access: yours to the list.

  See Run a GTD session.

• "This list can't be your inbox". You can't create tasks in that list. Ask for Edit access to it and a permission set that lets you create tasks (Permissions and access), or pick a list you can add tasks to (Inbox list setting).

• Requests pile up for days. Keep sessions short: anything you can't decide in a minute goes to Someday / maybe with a return day next week (Not actionable).

• A delegated request came back to the session. You kept it in Requests. Pick another list under Move to list, or give it a start date still to come (Next action).

Variations

• Solo inbox. Skip the sharing in step 3 and use the same flow for your own requests.
• Weekly triage. Run the session once a week as part of your weekly review.
• Auto-routing. Add an automation that runs When Created under Tasks, Where the list is Requests, Only if Title contains a keyword, Then Move to list with the right list, so a request reaches it before you see it (Create an automation).