Find the subject
Find the subject (project, lead, partner or event) a request is about before you act on it. Use at the start of any task in a workspace that holds subjects, before you read, write, file or schedule anything.
Every piece of work belongs to a subject: a project, a lead, a partner or an event. Find it first. Work that is not filed to a subject is lost to the team.
Procedure
- Read the request for names. A client, a project name, a person, an event, a document title.
- Search for the subject. Search with the most specific name first. Prefer a subject over a person, a document or a conversation.
- Choose one subject.
- One clear match: use it.
- More than one match: show the person the candidates with their kind and one line each. Ask which one. Do not guess.
- No match: say so. Ask the person whether the work belongs to another subject, or whether to create one. Do not create a subject without a yes.
- Keep the door. Pass the subject's door (
subject:<kind>:<id>) to every later step. Do not pass a name when a door exists.
Rules
- Do not file work to a person when it is about a client. The client is the subject; the person is a participant.
- A request can touch two subjects. Name both, and file each output to the subject it is about.
On Starlings
| Step | Tool |
|---|---|
| Search | search returns rows with a door |
| Confirm | open with the door returns the subject |
| Context for "now" requests | now lists the member's latest activity across subjects |
| Create a lead (after a yes) | task with action: "create_lead" |
Install: SKILL.md · Source: standard/skills/find-the-subject/SKILL.md · Apache-2.0