The short answer: two routines. Plan my week emails you every Monday at 8 AM: each day’s meetings and tasks due, the busiest and most open day, up to five emails from last week that need you this week, and up to three suggestions. Wrap up my day texts you weekdays at 4:30 PM: who is waiting on a reply or approval from you, today’s open tasks, and tomorrow before 10 AM. Both read your own inbox and calendar, not your team’s.
What the dispatch board does not know
You run an HVAC company with twelve trucks, a dispatcher, a service manager and an office manager. The dispatch board knows every call, every tech and every part on order. What it does not know is your own mail: the general contractor waiting on your answer about curb adapters before a bid closes, the school district asking to move a rooftop unit swap, the distributor’s rep coming Tuesday, the bank review on Wednesday, the supply house saying a card payment failed.
On Monday you ask the office manager what your week looks like. At 5 PM you call the service manager to find out what is still open. That works, and it is you chasing people for status on your own week.
The outcome these two routines serve: you see your week, and what is waiting on you, without chasing anyone.
The native ways, and where they stop
- Outlook’s My Day panel shows what is on your schedule today when you open Outlook in a browser (Microsoft Learn). Today, not the week, and only when you open it.
- Microsoft’s daily Briefing email, which used to bring meetings and follow-up reminders to your inbox, is paused (same page).
- Texts from Outlook were discontinued for Microsoft 365 accounts on Exchange Online; Microsoft points you to the Outlook phone app (Microsoft Support).
- Your field service software has the jobs and the techs. It does not read your inbox.
Nothing native puts the week’s calendar and the emails that need you in one message on Monday, or texts you your own loose ends at 4:30.
Monday at 8 AM: Plan my week
Turn it on from Routines on the desktop. It arrives by email every Monday at 8 AM in your time zone, and it is kept in the web app.
Your week ahead, September 28
A heavy start and an open Friday.
Your week at a glance
- Mon (today): 7:00 AM crew leads. 10:00 AM call with Cardinal Builders about the library bid. Due: sign the Oak Hollow HOA maintenance renewal.
- Tue: 9:00 AM distributor rep. 2:00 PM walkthrough, Maple Grove Middle School (not confirmed by Priya yet).
- Wed: 8:30 AM bank, line of credit review.
- Thu: 11:00 AM safety meeting. Due: Eastside Library bid.
- Fri: open. Sat, Sun: open.
Tuesday is the busiest, with the rep and the school walkthrough. Friday is the most open.
Emails (3)
- Tom Reyes, Cardinal Builders, “Library RTU clarifications”: needs your answer on curb adapters before Thursday.
- Priya Shah, Maple Grove Schools, “Rooftop unit swap”: asks to move it to the week of the 12th.
- Northland Supply, “Payment failed”: the card on file was declined.
Suggestions
- Answer Tom before the 10 AM call.
- Reply to Priya before Tuesday’s walkthrough.
- Update the card with Northland.
Illustrative example, not output from a real run. People and companies are invented, and the wording differs from run to run.
It skips newsletters, receipts, notifications and threads where you sent the last message. An automated notice makes the list only when it needs you to act, like that failed payment. It asks you nothing and changes nothing.
Weekdays at 4:30: Wrap up my day
Turn it on from Routines and choose text. For texts, add your number in Settings and send alfred_ one text from that phone; there is no code. It runs weekdays at 4:30 PM:
alfred_ 2 waiting on you. Tom Reyes, curb adapter answer for the library bid, 2 days. Luis, approve overtime for the Brookside callback, since 1 PM. Open today: Oak Hollow renewal. Tomorrow 9 AM distributor rep. Start with Tom. [link to the full list]
Illustrative example, not output from a real run.
It reads inbox threads from the last 7 days where someone else sent the last message and asked you for something, your tasks due today and overdue, and tomorrow before 10 AM. Your service manager’s overtime request counts, because it is an approval only you can give. If nothing needs you, it says so in one line, and a run with nothing to report does not text you. The account manager’s version walks through answering from the truck.
What neither one covers
- Your team’s inboxes. Each routine reads the mail and calendar of the person who turned it on. The dispatcher’s and service manager’s threads are not in yours unless you are on them. There is no team dashboard; your managers can turn on the same routines for their own mail.
- Your dispatch board. alfred_ has no connection to ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro or Jobber. Jobs appear only if they are on the Google, Outlook or iCloud calendar you connected.
- Doing the work. Both are reports. You still answer Tom.
Where each step happens
- Desktop, in the office: turn both on from Routines, and read the full versions in the web app.
- Email, Monday at 8 AM: the week.
- Text, weekdays at 4:30: the loose ends, on the road. Text alfred_ back to reply to someone; it shows you the reply and sends only on your yes. More on the SMS page.
- iPhone app: Plan my week’s result on the Routines screen, Monday’s email in the inbox, and alfred_’s drafts under each email.
The honest caveat
Both read the inboxes and calendars you connected, and only yours: Gmail or Outlook, up to six accounts. What counts as needing you is alfred_’s reading of each thread, so a request buried in a long reply-all can be missed. And they report: they tell you what is waiting, and you still make the calls. Plans are on the pricing page.