How it works

How Pondros works

From an ask in Slack to a closed task: how Pondros catches work, who it follows up with, and where everything is kept.

The loop

Everything Pondros does comes back to one loop:

Catch. Someone asks a teammate for something in Slack. Pondros writes it down as a task with an owner, a due date and a project.
Follow up. As the due date gets close, Pondros checks in with the owner by DM. Their reply updates the task.
Escalate. If the owner goes quiet, Pondros warns them, then tells the person who asked.
Close. When the work is done, the owner taps Mark done, or says so, and the task closes.

On top of that loop, anyone can ask Pondros where things stand, or hand it work of its own. See Ask Pondros.

How asks are caught

Pondros reads the channels it’s in and decides, message by message, whether someone has just asked for or promised something. How sure it needs to be depends on how the ask was made.

The message	What Pondros does
“`@Rob` can you send the deck by Friday?”	Creates the task for Rob, due Friday, when it's confident. When it isn't, it suggests the task to you instead. A stated due date always creates it.
“Rob, can you send the deck?” (no @)	Only suggests it. A name without an @ could mean anyone, so Pondros asks first.
“I’ll update the deck by end of day”	Creates a task owned by whoever said it, but only when it's clearly a commitment.
“`@Pondros` ask `@Rob` for the deck by Friday”	Pondros replies in the thread, creates the task and tells you it's done.
A reply that continues an open task	Adds it to that task as a comment, marked with a 💬 reaction, rather than creating a new one.

How you know it was caught

Created: a ✅ reaction on the message, and a DM to whoever wrote it: ✅ Added to Pondros — title · owner · due date, with a link back to the message.
Suggested: a DM to whoever wrote it, 🤔 Possible task, with ➕ Add to board and ✕ Not a task. For a name without an @, the suggestion is posted in the thread instead.

Nothing is posted in the channel when a task is created, so catching work never adds noise to the conversation.

When Pondros replies

Tagged in a channel: always, in the thread of the message that tagged it.
Follow-ups in that thread: for ten minutes after the last tag you don’t need to tag it again.
Addressed by name (“Pondros, what’s left on Acme?”): it answers.
Everything else in a channel: it stays quiet. A message that @mentions someone else is never answered.
In a DM with Pondros: it answers every message.

Tip

Pondros never replies to a channel conversation it wasn’t asked into. If you want an answer, tag it.

Once a task has an owner and a due date, Pondros takes over the chasing. Check-ins start when the task is two days from due, go out on weekday mornings, and stop when it’s done. See Follow-ups and escalation.

Where everything lives

Every task goes onto a board in the Pondros web app, filed under a project (by default, the channel it came from). You can open it from Slack with /pondros board or the Open Pondros button on the app’s Home tab. See Your board.

What it remembers

Tell Pondros how your team works (“remember that Acme invoices go to Priya”, “from now on, file design asks under Brand”) and it keeps that for next time. Memories are yours by default; say “for the whole team” to share one with the workspace. Ask what do you remember about me? to see them, and forget … to remove one.