Engineering
7 min read
How we cite every sentence
A brief you can't check is a rumour. Here is how each line keeps a link to the messages it came from.
Written by
Tomás Reis
Every line in a brief is written from a set of source messages, and we keep that set. When you tap a line, you see exactly which messages it summarises.
References, not copies
This is harder than it sounds. Summaries merge and paraphrase, so the link between a sentence and its sources has to be tracked through every step, not reconstructed afterwards.
We store source references, not content. If a message is deleted at the source, the link breaks honestly instead of showing a copy.
The result is a brief you can forward to someone who doesn’t use Shizuri, and they can still check it.
Keep reading
Quiet, in their words.
I used to start the day with 300 unread. Now I start it with six lines and a coffee.
The sources are the point. I can forward a line to my CEO and she can check it herself.
Quiet hours gave me my afternoons back. The two things that came through actually needed me.
Our Osaka and Lisbon teams finally overlap, even though they never meet on a call.
We turned it on for 40 people on a Thursday. By Monday nobody asked for the weekly status meeting.
It says “I couldn't find that” when it can't. That is why I trust the rest of it.
Try one quiet morning. Keep it if it gives you back an hour.
Tomorrow at 07:00, one quiet page.
Connect two sources in four minutes. Your first brief arrives tomorrow morning, before the first meeting.