Why this session exists
Your mornings start with 40 unread emails, a packed calendar, and no time to figure out which three things actually matter. This session builds you an executive chief of staff on the tools we already pay for: Slack stays your front door, Claude Teams is the brain, and Google Workspace is where your data already lives. No third-party middleware, no new vendors.
One brain, two doors, six jobs 6 min live
Everything today follows one architecture: you talk to Claude through Slack or the Claude app, Claude reads your Workspace through governed connectors, and only summaries come back out. Six jobs, one pattern.
LiveThe six jobs your chief of staff does2 min▶
| Job | You say / it happens | Built in |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · Morning briefing + to-do | "Morning briefing" → today's meetings, conflicts, email triage, 3-5 item to-do | Demo 1 + 2 |
| 2 · Critical email alerts | Emails scored 1-5; only 4-5 (Chairman, budgets, deadlines) surface | Demo 1 · Tier 3 for push |
| 3 · Document search + knowledge base | "Find the latest file on X" → doc found, 3-5 takeaways summarized | Demo 1 |
| 4 · Text-to-calendar | "Book coffee with HR tomorrow 2pm" in Slack → event appears, bot confirms | Tier 2 |
| 5 · Room & attendee coordination | "Is Room A free tomorrow afternoon?" → 2-3 slots where rooms AND people are free | Tier 2/3 |
| 6 · Auto briefing at 8am | The briefing is waiting before you open your laptop | Demo 2 |
A managing director's Tuesday, after setup: 8:00 - the briefing is already in Slack: 6 meetings, one conflict flagged, two critical emails (a board member on budget, a contract deadline), a 4-item to-do. 8:05 - she DMs "@Claude move my 3pm to Thursday and book Room B" - done. 10:40 - an alert interrupts: the auditor needs a response by noon. Everything else waited for lunch. That is the chief-of-staff experience - roughly 30 minutes of triage handed back, every day.
LiveSecurity first - the slide for your own boss2 min▶
Lead with this before anyone asks. The whole system runs on tools we already license, inside our corporate perimeter:
- No training on our data. Claude Teams and Enterprise data is never used to train models - contractual, not a setting.
- Permission inheritance. Connectors act as YOU: Claude can only see the emails, events and files your own account can see. A briefing never leaks someone else's inbox.
- Slack sees summaries only. The raw mailbox is read inside the Claude-to-Workspace connection; what lands in Slack is the processed digest.
- No third-party middleware. No Zapier, no Make.com - direct, admin-governed integrations. Our sys admin can see, approve, and revoke every connector.
- Human in the loop stays. The chief of staff drafts, flags, and proposes; sending, deciding, and signing stay with you (that is Diligence from Session 1).
Self-studyWhat needs sys-admin approval - and the ready-to-send request2 min read▶
Three approvals unlock everything in this session. Copy the request below, adjust, send. (The full template also lives in the repo under materials/templates/.)
| Approval | Unlocks | Effort for IT |
|---|---|---|
| Google Workspace connectors (Gmail, Calendar, Drive) | Briefings, triage, doc search - the core | Enable in Claude admin console, one time |
| Claude app for Slack (Claude Tag) | @Claude in channels, DMs, one-sentence booking | Install from Slack Marketplace + workspace approval |
| Claude API key (optional, Tier 3 only) | The push automations: 5-minute email watcher, room engine | Create a scoped key, store in Apps Script properties |
Three tiers, from ten minutes to full autopilot 5 min live
You don't need everything on day one. Tier 1 you build yourself in the next 22 minutes. Tier 2 is one admin install away. Tier 3 is a one-time, ~90-minute job for one IT champion - and every executive benefits from the same engine.
LiveTier 1 - the Chief of Staff project2 min · then Demo 1▶
A Claude Project (Session 1's "knowledge that compounds") with two things inside: connectors switched on (Gmail, Calendar, Drive) and standing instructions that turn generic Claude into YOUR chief of staff - who your VIPs are, what counts as critical, how you like your briefing. Once saved, every conversation in the project starts already knowing the rules. You build this yourself in Demo 1 with the exact instruction prompt below.
The instruction block is where the magic personalizes: a CFO lists the audit committee and "anything with the word covenant" as auto-critical; a CMO lists agency partners and campaign-budget threads. Same template, different VIP list - that one paragraph is the difference between a generic assistant and YOUR chief of staff.
LiveTier 2 - Claude in Slack + the 8am schedule3 min · then Demos 2-3▶
Slack stays your chat tool - Claude moves in. With the Claude app for Slack (Claude Tag, rolling out to Teams and Enterprise plans since June 2026) installed by your admin:
- DM @Claude like a colleague: "Book a 30-min sync with the DS team tomorrow at 2pm", "Any urgent emails?", "Find the Q3 roadmap".
- Tag @Claude in a channel - one shared Claude per channel that the whole team sees and can redirect mid-task. Perfect for a private #cos-alerts channel with you and your EA.
- Admin-controlled: channel-level access controls; Claude in Slack respects the same workspace governance as everything else.
The 8am auto-briefing needs no code either: Claude's scheduled tasks run your briefing prompt on a timer - every weekday morning, the digest is waiting before you open your laptop. You configure yours in Demo 2.
End-to-end config (what your admin does once)
Slack Marketplace → search "Claude" → Add to Slack → approve for the workspace (workspace admin).
Connect the Claude workspace when prompted, so Slack conversations use our Teams plan (and its no-training guarantee).
Create the private channel #cos-alerts → invite yourself, your EA, and /invite @Claude.
Test: DM @Claude "hello" - then try "What's on my calendar tomorrow?" once connectors are approved.
Self-studyTier 3 - the push-automation engine (for your IT champion)3 min read▶
Two jobs genuinely need a scheduled engine rather than a chat: the 5-minute email watcher (score every new email 1-5 with Claude, push only 4-5 to #cos-alerts) and room + attendee FreeBusy booking across resource calendars. The original chief-of-staff pattern used Google Apps Script + the Gemini API - we keep the exact same architecture and swap in the Claude API. One file, ~200 lines, no servers.
- Email watcher: Apps Script timer (every 5 min) reads unread Gmail →
askClaudescores 1-5 with your VIP rubric → score ≥4 posts to the #cos-alerts webhook → thread labeled processed. Low-priority mail stays silent. - Room engine: parses "find a room for a 1-hour meeting with john@ Thursday morning" → FreeBusy query across room calendars AND attendees → returns 2-3 slots where everyone and a room are free.
- Secrets hygiene: API key and Slack webhook live in Apps Script's Properties Service - never hard-coded, never in Slack messages.
- The complete adapted script (config, Slack webhook helper, email watcher, room engine, daily briefing trigger, deploy steps) is in the repo:
materials/templates/apps-script-claude-cos.md. Setup is ~90 minutes once; each additional executive is a config entry.
Prompts and patterns for each job 4 min live
Every job from the architecture, with the working prompt. In the session we do jobs 1-3 live inside your new project; the rest are configured in Tier 2/3.
LiveJob 1 · The morning briefing and to-do list1.5 min▶
The crown jewel. One word - "Morning briefing" - and your chief of staff scans today's calendar, triages 24 hours of email against your VIP rubric, and hands you a 3-5 item to-do list. The intelligence lives in the project instructions (Demo 1); the schedule makes it automatic (Demo 2).
What good looks like: "3 back-to-backs 9-11 with no prep gap - I moved your reading time. Conflict: the vendor call overlaps the leadership sync. Critical: board member Y asked for the revised budget by EOD (email 2h ago). To-do: 1) approve budget note, 2) 5-min prep for the 2pm negotiation - talking points attached, 3) sign the contract renewal before Thursday."
LiveJob 2 · Critical email alerts - the 1-5 triage funnel1.5 min▶
The push version (alerts arriving in #cos-alerts within 5 minutes, unprompted) is the Tier 3 watcher - same rubric, on a timer.
LiveJob 3 · Document search and the team knowledge base1 min▶
Two complementary moves:
- Search what exists: with the Drive connector, "Find the latest file on [project] and summarize the 3-5 core takeaways" replaces ten minutes of Drive archaeology - and it only finds files you already have access to.
- Curate what matters: upload the 5-10 documents you're tired of re-explaining (strategy note, org chart, glossary, key policies) into the project itself. Now every briefing and draft is grounded in the same canon - that is your team knowledge base, and on Teams you can share the whole project.
Self-studyJobs 4-5 · Text-to-calendar and room coordination1.5 min read▶
Text-to-calendar: with the Calendar connector, booking is one sentence to @Claude in Slack or in your project: "Book a 30-min sync with [name] tomorrow at 2pm." Claude extracts title, time, attendees, confirms with you, creates the event. The chief-of-staff instructions make it always confirm before creating - Diligence by design.
Rooms and attendees: "Is Room A free tomorrow afternoon?" or "Find a slot Thursday morning where John, Sarah and a meeting room are all free." Simple checks work through the Calendar connector; the exhaustive cross-referencing version (every room × every attendee × 30-minute grid) is the Tier 3 FreeBusy engine, which returns "Option 1: 09:30-10:30 in Room A or Room C - all attendees free."
The showstopper moment from the original playbook stays the showstopper here: an MD types one sentence in Slack, the confirmation appears in the thread, and the event is on the calendar before the meeting about meetings would have even been scheduled.
Self-studyJob 6 + file management · Claude Cowork, your AI that works IN your files2.5 min read▶
Everything so far reads and summarizes. Claude Cowork (in the Claude desktop app) goes further: you point it at a folder and it works - renames and organizes files, drafts documents in place, processes a stack of PDFs, builds the deck skeleton. It runs a visible task loop:
- Standing context: global instructions + projects work here too - Cowork picks up the same chief-of-staff rules.
- Skills and plugins: teach Cowork your recurring file jobs ("month-end board pack assembly") once, reuse forever - that is Session 3's entire topic.
- Claude in Chrome and Microsoft 365: the same assistant inside the browser and Office surfaces, so "where you work" stops mattering.
- Safety practices: start with a copy of the folder, review the plan before approving, validate third-party skills before installing - the same Diligence habits, applied to files.
Build YOUR chief of staff ★ 12 min · everyone builds
By the end of this demo, a real morning briefing runs on your real calendar and inbox. Laptops open.
In Claude, create a new Project. Name it Chief of Staff.
Open Settings → Connectors → enable Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive and authorize with your corporate account. (If the toggles are missing, the admin approval hasn't landed - pair up with a neighbor who has it, and send the Part 1 request after the session.)
Paste the instruction prompt below into the project's instructions, then personalize the VIP list - replace the role placeholders with the real names that matter to you.
Type: "Morning briefing". Watch it scan YOUR day. Then run: "Check priority emails from the last 12 hours" and "Find the latest file on [a real project]".
Discernment lap (Session 1 habit): tell it one thing to fix - "too long, cap the briefing at 150 words" or "add my 1:1s' prep notes". The instruction learns when you re-save it.
Schedule the 8am auto-briefing ★ 5 min · everyone configures
The difference between a tool and a chief of staff: the chief of staff shows up unasked. Two minutes of configuration, then it's every weekday, forever.
In Claude, ask: "Every weekday at 8:00am, run my morning briefing from the Chief of Staff project and send it to me." Claude sets up the scheduled task; confirm the schedule it proposes.
Check the schedule: ask "list my scheduled tasks" - you should see the weekday 8am briefing. Adjust the time to beat your commute.
Tomorrow morning: read the briefing that arrived before you did. Note ONE thing it missed or over-flagged - that's your calibration input for the week.
Week one, the briefing flags too much - everyone's rubric starts too broad. The calibration habit from the original playbook applies unchanged: each day ask "did the briefing miss anything? did it cry wolf?" and adjust one line of the instructions. By week two, the signal is clean, and that's when executives stop checking their inbox before breakfast.
Slack: one sentence, meeting booked ★ 5 min · follow along
If the Claude app for Slack is already installed, everyone does this live; if not, watch the presenter and this becomes item 2 on your admin request.
In Slack, DM @Claude: "hello" - meet your chief of staff's front door.
The showstopper: "Book a 30-min sync with [a real colleague] tomorrow at 2pm." Confirm when it asks. Open Google Calendar - the event is there, booked from one sentence.
Try: "Is Room A free tomorrow afternoon?" and "Any urgent emails in the last 4 hours?"
In your team channel, tag @Claude on a real thread: "@Claude summarize this thread and list the action items with owners." One shared Claude, visible to everyone - notice a colleague can redirect it mid-task.
This week, and how to ask follow-up questions ◐ 30 min total
- Every morning this week: read the 8am briefing, then tell the project one correction ("X isn't critical", "always include prep notes for 1:1s"). Five daily minutes of calibration is what turns a demo into a chief of staff.
- Send the admin request (Part 1 template) if any connector or the Slack app was missing today.
- Curate your knowledge base: upload the 5 documents you re-explain most into the project.
- Nominate the IT champion for Tier 3 if you want push alerts - point them at
materials/templates/apps-script-claude-cos.md; it's a ~90-minute one-time build. - Stuck or curious? Ask Claude itself first - "I set up a chief-of-staff project in Claude; how do I make the briefing include my direct reports' OOO status?" It knows its own features, and the Session 1 "teach me" template works perfectly here.
- Then ask us: post in #learn-claude (tag @Claude in the thread - let it answer first, we'll add the company context), or bring it to next session's opening Q&A.
Official courses and playbooks covered
This session teaches the working content of three official courses from claude.com/resources/courses, plus our internal Chief-of-Staff setup playbook, adapted from its original Gemini + Apps Script design to Claude Teams. The 4D-framework halves of the two AI Fluency courses were taught in Session 1 - here you applied them.
Three questions before you go 🎯 ◐ 90 seconds
1 · Why can your chief of staff only see YOUR inbox, never a colleague's?
Permission inheritance is the security model - governance by construction, not by promise. That's the line for your own boss.
2 · Which emails are allowed to interrupt you?
The triage funnel: ~5% interrupts, everything else waits for your check. Calibrate the rubric weekly until the signal is clean.
3 · What does Tier 1 (build it today, yourself) require?
The core (briefing, triage, doc search) is a 10-minute no-code build. Code only enters at Tier 3, once, for the push automations.