The short answer: turn on alfred_’s Chase what I’m owed routine. Every Monday at 8 AM it reads the emails you sent in the last 7 days and the replies in those threads, finds the explicit requests you made (a walkthrough date, a certificate, a delivery date, a signature, a payment), drops anything clearly answered or done, and emails you what is still outstanding, oldest first, with a short follow-up suggestion. It sends nothing.
Three asks from last week
You run operations for a janitorial or HVAC company. Last week, by email, you asked for three things that a job depends on:
- Tuesday: you asked a client’s facility manager for two walkthrough dates for the new building.
- Wednesday: you asked your insurance broker for a certificate naming a new property management client as additional insured, because the job starts next Wednesday.
- Thursday: you asked the supply house for a delivery date on a backordered auto-scrubber (or, in HVAC, a condenser fan motor).
By Monday morning, one answered. The broker replied “on it” and nothing came. The supply house never wrote back. Left alone, you find out on Tuesday afternoon, when the Wednesday start is at risk. Better to know at 8 AM on Monday.
The outcome here is nothing slipping through the cracks on the other side of the ledger: not what people are waiting on from you, but what you are waiting on from them.
The native ways, and where they stop
- Gmail nudges. Turn on “Suggest emails to follow up on” in Settings, General, and Gmail puts sent emails that may need a follow-up at the top of your inbox (Gmail Help). Gmail only, and you see them when you open the inbox.
- Outlook flags. When you send, Follow Up, Flag for Me, with a reminder date (Microsoft Support). It fires on the date you picked, for the messages you remembered to flag.
- Microsoft Viva. The Viva Insights add-in for Outlook has a section for checking in on requests you made to your colleagues. The daily Briefing email that used to push those items to you is paused (Microsoft Learn).
All three depend on you remembering to look, or remembering to flag. The week that three jobs start is the week you forget.
Turn on Chase what I’m owed
- On your desktop, open alfred_ and go to Routines.
- Open Chase what I’m owed.
- Press Turn it on.
It runs every Monday at 8 AM in your time zone. The result comes by email and is kept in the web app.
What it does, in order:
- Reads the emails you sent in the last 7 days, in every inbox you have connected (Gmail or Outlook, up to six), and the replies in those threads.
- Finds the explicit requests you made of other people: work, material, a review, a confirmation, a decision, or payment.
- Checks the later replies. If they clearly did it or answered, the item is left out.
- Lists the rest, oldest first, each with a short follow-up suggestion.
What Monday’s email looks like
Still waiting on (3)
- Priya Shah, Maple Grove Schools. You asked Tue Sep 22 for two walkthrough dates for the new gym building. No reply. Suggestion: offer two times yourself, Thursday morning or Friday afternoon.
- Rob Castillo, Castillo Insurance. You asked Wed Sep 23 for a certificate naming Brightline Property Group as additional insured. Reply Thu: working on it. No certificate yet. Suggestion: a short note with the start date, Wednesday the 30th.
- Kim Tran, Northland Supply. You asked Thu Sep 24 for a delivery date on the backordered auto-scrubber. No reply. Suggestion: ask for the date or a loaner.
Illustrative example, not output from a real run. People, companies and dates are invented, and the wording differs from run to run.
The client who sent the walkthrough dates on Friday is not there: they answered, so the item is done.
What it leaves out
- Requests that were clearly answered or done.
- Requests people made of you. Those are on the 4:30 list of replies you owe.
- Anything you sent more than 7 days ago. Each request gets checked on one Monday. If it is still open when you see it, act that week, or text alfred_ “remind me Thursday at 9 to chase the certificate from Rob” and you get a text at 9 on Thursday.
- Bids and quotes waiting on a decision have their own 60-day list: Proposals waiting on a decision.
It sends nothing and writes nothing. If Outlook refuses to let it read a thread because the mailbox is busy, the report says how many sent threads it could not cover, instead of quietly leaving them out.
Where each step happens
- Desktop, in the office: turn it on from Routines, read the full list in the web app, and send the nudges from your mail.
- Email, Monday at 8 AM: the list in your inbox.
- iPhone, on the road: Monday’s email in the alfred_ app’s inbox or your usual mail app.
- Text: “reply to Rob Castillo and ask for the certificate by Friday noon.” alfred_ shows you the reply and sends it only when you say yes. Reminders are set by text too. More on the SMS page.
The honest caveat
It reads the email you sent from the inboxes you connected. Requests made on a call, by text message, in a supplier portal, or from a colleague’s mailbox are not in it. Whether a reply “clearly answered” is alfred_’s reading of the thread. And it is a report: it tells you what is outstanding, and you still send the follow-up. Plans are on the pricing page.