Action Item Extraction
An action item has an owner, a verb, and ideally a date. Without an owner and a verb it is discussion, not an action item.
- Read the whole thread (
get_thread, thenextract_action_items) — a commitment made early is often only confirmed later. - Attribute every item to a named person. "The team will follow up" is not an action item; name who, or drop it.
- Separate what the user owes from what the user is owed. They get handled completely differently.
- Check
list_tasksandcheck_followupsbefore proposing a new item, so the same commitment is not tracked twice.
Report two lists, longest-overdue first:
You owe — <verb the deliverable> · to <person> · by <date or "no date">
You're owed — <person> · <what> · by <date or "no date">
Then anything already past its deadline. No preamble.
A question is not an action item unless answering it was promised. "No date" is a real value — never invent a deadline; the undated commitment is the one that gets dropped, and saying so is the useful output. A superseded item is closed. A conditional commitment keeps its condition.


