Start with a clear brief

Turn a task you already do into a short brief Tines 3B can build from, and use Plan mode to shape it.

Objective: Write a short brief that describes the outcome you want, and use Plan mode to shape it with Tines 3B.

Say what you want before you build

Tines 3B builds what you describe. The description decides how close the result lands to what you had in mind.

Ask for "something to handle review requests," and Tines 3B has to decide almost everything for you: whether it's a page people submit to or a report, who does the reviewing, and what happens once a request arrives. It makes sensible choices and builds them cleanly, but its sensible choices might not match yours. Then you're correcting a build that was pointed slightly off from the start.

A few minutes on the brief saves more time than it costs. By the end of this lesson, you'll have a short brief for a workflow of your own, ready to build in lesson 4.

Four questions to understand, six to build

In the first lesson, you used four questions to understand a workflow. A clear brief answers six questions. The first four are the ones you already know:

What starts it?

What information does it use?

What result does it produce?

Where does a person decide?

The last two cover what Tines 3B can't work out on its own:

What are its limits? What it shouldn't do, and what should happen when something's missing.

How will you know it worked? A quick test you could run yourself.

What changed?

The clear version answers all six questions: what starts it (a form submission), what information it uses (name, link, and deadline), what result it produces (a list the reviewer can filter by status), where a person decides (the reviewer approves or asks for changes), its limits (no request without a link), and how you'll know it worked (a quick test).

"Build a review request tracker for our team. Anyone who needs something reviewed submits a request through a form with their name, a link to what needs reviewing, and a deadline. Requests appear in a list the reviewer can filter by status (waiting, approved, or changes requested), with the soonest deadline first. The reviewer approves each request or asks for changes, and the status updates in the list. Don't accept a request without a link. It worked if a test request shows up in the list and approving it changes its status."

None of it is technical. It's what you'd tell a colleague taking over the task.

Shape it with Plan mode

You don't have to write the finished brief on your own.

Plan mode is a toggle in the chat composer. When it's on, Tines 3B doesn't start building right away. It reads what you've described, drafts a plan, and presents it for your approval. You can approve it, or tell Tines 3B what to change before anything gets built.

So you can start rough. Describe the outcome in a few sentences, turn on Plan mode, and read the plan with the six questions in mind. If it answers all of them, approve it. If it doesn't, tell Tines 3B what's missing. The questions are a way to check the plan, not a form you fill in on your own.

Plan mode is most useful when an idea is still fuzzy, or big enough that you'd rather agree on the shape first. You'll use it for your first build in the next lesson.

Plan mode isn't only for building. To understand a workflow someone else built, open it, turn on Plan mode, and ask Tines 3B to explain it. With Plan mode on, Tines 3B answers without changing anything. You can also open the workflow's readme for a written summary of what it does.

Let's build a brief for your own workflow

Pick a task from your work, one that happens the same way every time and takes more of your time than it should. Keep your first one small, ideally something Tines 3B can build without connecting to other tools. You can add connections later.

If nothing comes to mind, use a team suggestion box: team members submit ideas through a form, and a team lead decides what happens to each one.

Open a doc or a note and work through the tabs in the next step one question at a time. Each tab shows what to think about and how the review request brief answered it.

If you get stuck on the steps, do the task by hand once and narrate each move as you go. Pay attention to the small decisions you make without thinking, like "if it's a contractor, set an end date." Those decisions are what Tines 3B needs to hear.

Change one requirement

Requirements change, usually right after you think you're done. Update your brief:

If you used your own task, add one limit: something the workflow must never do, or what it should do when information is missing.

If you used the team suggestion box, declined ideas now need a short reason that everyone can see in the list.

As you update it, notice how many of your answers had to change. One new requirement usually touches more than one answer.

Check your brief

Read your brief as if a colleague handed it to you, and check it against these questions:

Could someone tell what starts it without asking you?

Did you name specific details instead of "the data"?

Could someone check whether the result exists?

Is there at least one point where a person decides?

Did you include at least one limit?

Could you test whether it worked in a few minutes?

A thin answer shows you where to fill in detail, or where to let Plan mode ask you about it.

Keep your brief somewhere you can copy it from. You'll paste it into Tines 3B in the next lesson.

What to do if something still feels fuzzy

The four questions that help you understand a workflow also help you describe one. Add the limits and how you'll know it worked, and your brief is ready to build in the next lesson.