The night shift: your AI works while you sleep

A store can hire a night guard who walks the halls every hour. So can you.

So far, your AI works when you show up. But the best helpers check on things even when you're not around. This is called a check-in (the tech folks say "heartbeat" — same idea).

A check-in is a little list your AI reads a few times a day, all by itself:

• Any new email that needs me?
• Anything on the calendar in the next day?
• Any new comments or messages on my posts?
• Anything I promised someone that's coming due?

If nothing needs you — it stays quiet. If something does, it sends you one short note. That's the whole trick: a helper that checks so you don't have to.

Meet Walt

Walt runs a coffee-and-collectibles shop and answers everything himself. He used to check email at red lights. Now his AI checks four times a day. Most check-ins end in silence. But Tuesday at 2pm his phone buzzed once: "A supplier wrote — your order is short two cases. Want me to draft a reply?" Walt said yes, read the draft, sent it. Ninety seconds, problem solved, no red lights.

The good-manners rules

Give the night shift house rules, in writing:

• Quiet hours. No messages from 10 at night to 8 in the morning, unless the house is on fire.
• Don't be a pest. One short note beats five long ones. Nothing new? Say nothing.
• Tidy while it's quiet. Slow day? It can clean up the notebook and file things away. Useful, never noisy.